Former MMA welterweight champion Kamaru Usman of Nigeria delivered one of his best performances on 11 days notice after losing by majority decision to Khamzat Chimaev in a grueling UFC294 co-main event today in Abu Dhabi UAE.
The Russian fighter Chimaev nearly scored a finish in the first round but had to endure a challenging pace to eventually secure the win over Usman.
When the fight started, Chimaev grabbed onto a takedown and he immediately began punishing Usman with punches and elbows before looking for a submission.
It was a dominant opening but after Chimaev didn’t get the stoppage, Usman managed to come back with a strong striking attack that saw him begin to even the score.
A late takedown from Chimaev in the third round likely helped him secure the victory with the judges returning scores reading 29-27, 29-27 and 28-28, which was enough for a majority decision win.
Following the win, Chimaev didn’t shout for a title shot but instead asked for peace while paying homage to his opponent.
“I’m a big fan of Usman,” Chimaev said. “He has good coaches, a good team. I didn’t come here for the titles, [I’m here to] make money and be happy.”
It took a matter of seconds for Chimaev to rush forward and grab onto the leg before bringing Usman down to the canvas.
Chimaev quickly advanced to take the back as he began raining down shots while Usman played defense from a bad position.
Chimaev maintained his dominance while peppering away with punches and elbows until Usman stood to his feet, which nearly led to a standing rear-naked choke.
Usman defended by diving down to the canvas and that broke Chimaev’s grip but he still held onto the same position on the back.
Usman survived to see the second round and he finally started to establish his striking on the restart after popping Chimaev with a well-timed jab.
Chimaev’s pace was significantly slower as well, which allowed Usman to set up his combinations with a stinging right hand that came down the middle to tag the Chechen on the chin.
With less than a minute to go in the round, Chimaev managed a late takedown but he couldn’t do much with the position before the horn sounded.
Following the advice from his corner heading into the final five minutes, Usman started getting more aggressive with his strikes and his punches were consistently finding a home.
A couple of those shots snapped Chimaev’s head around but he staved off further damage by grabbing onto a leg and bringing Usman back to the canvas.
Despite a dominant position, Chimaev couldn’t do much damage before Usman got back to the feet, which led to a wild flurry just before the fight came to a close.
Still that takedown and ground control was enough for two judges to give Chimaev the round, which made the difference in the fight.
Usman has now lost three straight fights. “The Nigerian Nightmare” lost back-to-back title fights against Leon Edwards, and couldn’t get back on track at middleweight against Chimaev.
Prior to the fight, UFC CEO Dana White declared that the winner would get the next shot at middleweight champion Sean Strickland so that appears to be Chimaev’s next assignment after the biggest win of his career over a welterweight legend in Usman.
woramangra 