Photos by Chris Unger (L) and Jeff Bottari (R) for Zuffa LLC via Getty Images.
Kamaru Usman will be making his middleweight debut at UFC 294.
The former UFC welterweight champion tipped the scale at 185.5 pounds for his short-notice fight against Khamzat Chimaev, which takes place in the UFC 294 pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event this Sat. (Oct. 21, 2023) at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Get complete UFC 294 weigh ins results and video here.
That’s 15.5 pounds over his last recorded weigh in, contested at welterweight (170 pounds) at UFC 286. “The Nigerian Nightmare” challenged Leon Edwards for the division strap, but failed to reclaim the crown and dropped his second straight fight to “Rocky.”
“Fighters fight, so whether it’s middleweight or welterweight let’s fight, if it makes sense of course,” Usman told TNT Sports. “And I know a lot of people said, ‘Why would you take this fight, it doesn’t make any sense for you. You’re a welterweight, you’re at the top of the welterweight, why don’t you just stay there?’
“Well, like I said, that opportunity to be able to do something that’s monumental. And fighters fight, we step in there and we lay it all on the line and we take big risks [for] big rewards. And so a lot of people knew why I didn’t want to go to middleweight. You know, Izzy was the champ, I was the champ, everybody just wanted to see me go fight Izzy and I wasn’t interested in that, and I’m still not interested in that.”
“Izzy has said he’s going to take a little hiatus, so while he’s gone why don’t I keep that belt warm for him?” Usman continued. “And when he comes back, we’ll talk about the logistics of our weights. But I definitely, I would say this year, plan on definitely getting this middleweight belt, and then taking the welterweight one as well.”
Expect Chimaev to have something to say about that on Sat. in Abu Dhabi.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 294 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 10 a.m. ET, followed by the UFC 294 PPV main card start time at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 294: “Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 2” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the complete UFC 294 fight card and PPV lineup click here.