Ali Abdelaziz urges Kamaru Usman to strike while the iron’s hot.
Dominance MMA CEO Ali Abdelaziz likes Kamaru Usman’s chances against Khamzat Chimaev, but he hopes to see ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ fight ‘Borz’ sooner rather than later.
Abdelaziz thinks Chimaev will be virtually unbeatable in about two years but, as of right now, the Chechnan-born Swede is still ‘very young’ in the sport and thus prone to mistakes.
That’s why Abdelaziz thinks Usman should fight Khamzat ASAP rather than wait for the undefeated welterweight to further develop and refine his craft.
“Khamzat is young, you know. If you want to beat Khamzat, you fight him now, you understand, because you’re still very young in the sport,” Abdelaziz, who manages Usman, told ESPN in a recent interview (h/t Sportskeeda).
“Remember, you have five fights but I think it’s an open echelon in this division, you know, I think it’s everybody else and it is Kamaru but when you talk about Kamaru it’s a completely different class,” he added. “In one or two more years he’s [Chimaev is] gonna be very very hard to beat but right now he’s human. He can beat everybody [and] people can beat him you know.”
Khamzat most recently fought at UFC 273 where he beat Gilbert Burns in a Fight of the Year candidate that saw Chimaev pick up the first decision victory of his career. UFC president Dana White confirmed that Chimaev’s next opponent will be Colby Covington, although Khamzat is more than open to a five-round rematch with Burns.