{"id":36605,"date":"2026-02-03T15:57:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:57:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Kamaru-Usman-Speculates-That-Chimaev-May-Have-Outgrown-Middleweight-Division-199998"},"modified":"2026-02-03T15:57:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:57:59","slug":"kamaru-usman-speculates-that-chimaev-may-have-outgrown-middleweight-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/kamaru-usman-speculates-that-chimaev-may-have-outgrown-middleweight-division\/","title":{"rendered":"Kamaru Usman Speculates That Chimaev May Have Outgrown Middleweight Division"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Kamaru
\nUsman<\/a> believes Khamzat
\nChimaev<\/a> might have outgrown his current weight class. <\/p>\n

Chimaev dominantly won the middleweight title against Dricus Du
\nPlessis<\/a> at
\nUFC 319<\/a> in August 2025. While Chimaev is yet to defend his
\ntitle, he is now calling for a light heavyweight title shot against
\nAlex
\nPereira<\/a>. Usman believes Chimaev\u2019s call for a light heavyweight
\ntitle shot might not be fueled just by double championship
\naspirations. Usman believes \u201cBorz\u201d is struggling to cut down to
\nmiddleweight. Considering Chimaev\u2019s size, \u201cThe Nigerian Nightmare\u201d
\nfinds it ridiculous that the undefeated Chechen-born used to cut
\ndown to welterweight at one point. Usman also conjectures that
\nChimaev wouldn\u2019t mind opening the door at middleweight for Nassourdine
\nImavov<\/a> by moving up to light heavyweight.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Too Big for Middleweight?<\/h2>\n

\u201cFor Khamzat
\nChimaev<\/a> to continue to call [Pereira] out, I think Khamzat
\npotentially has outgrown the weight class again, to where now he\u2019s
\nlike, \u2018Let me go to a new division where I can make the weight and
\nI can capture that,\u2019\u201d Usman said on the \u201cPound 4 Pound\u201d podcast.
\n\u201cBecause there\u2019s all types of rumors coming out saying he is 230
\npounds. Khamzat is a big guy. Khamzat\u2019s always been the big guy.
\nThe fact that Khamzat was making 170 pounds is just ridiculous as
\nAnthony
\nJohnson<\/a> when he was making 170 pounds\u2026 And if he goes up there
\nand gets that title, that opens the door for another Russian,
\nNassourdine
\nImavov<\/a>, to get that middleweight title.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chimaev (15-0) had multiple weight misses at welterweight and was
\nforced to permanently move up to middleweight after missing weight
\nby a whopping 7.5 lbs in 2022. While Imavov (17-4) is arguably the
\nmost deserving middleweight contender, he and Chimaev don\u2019t seem
\ntoo keen on fighting each other. They share deep roots, as Imavov
\nwas born in Dagestan and Chimaev was born in Chechnya. Imavov
\nrecently revealed that his mother advised him against fighting a
\n\u201cbrother\u201d in Chimaev. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

Kamaru
\nUsman<\/a> believes Khamzat is struggling with the weight cut,
\nthat\u2019s why he wants to move up \ud83d\udc40\ud83d\ude32<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Khamzat
\nChimaev<\/a> to continue to call Pereira out, I think Khamzat
\npotentially has outgrown the weight class again, to where now he\u2019s
\nlike, \u2018Let me go to a new division where\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/IA1G671HcT<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA)
\nFebruary 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kamaru Usman believes Khamzat Chimaev might have outgrown his current weight class.  Chimaev dominantly won the middleweight title against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319 in August 2025. While Chimaev is yet to defend his title, he is now calling for a light heavyweight title shot against Alex Pereira. Usman believes Chimaev\u2019s call for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}