Khamzat Chimaev impresses with dominant victory over Kamaru Usman in UFC 294 co-main event
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to us today, October 21, 2023, for UFC 294, going down live from the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
Headlining the event was a championship rematch at 155 lbs between UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev (24-1) and UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (26-2).
Former champion Charles Oliveira was originally slated to rematch Makhachev for the title himself. However, 12 days ago he suffered a cut in his final round of sparring and the fight was cancelled, giving Volkanovski his second shot at the champion.
Ironically enough, the same thing happened to our original co-main event, as no. 6 ranked former middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa (14-2) was slated to face no. 4 ranked welterweight contender Khamzat Chimaev (13-0).
Costa however suffered an elbow injury that required surgery in recent weeks and the bout was scrapped, the UFC deciding to give former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (20-4) his chance to move up to 185 lbs and get back on the winning track with a victory over the most hyped prospect in the entire sport, also on 12 days notice.
Continue reading to see how our co-main event of the evening went down:
Official Result: Khamzat Chimaev def. Kamaru Usman via majority decision (29-27, 29-27, 28-28)
Chimaev opens up the bout with a front push kick, which is returned as Usman throws one of his own. Chimaev then shoots in on a double leg, switching to Usman’s back in the transition. He’s unable to secure the takedown initially, but is relentless with his attempts and eventually drags Usman down, taking his back in the process.
The final four-plus minutes of round one are spent with Chimaev absolutely mauling Usman from the back, reigning down barrages of punches and attempting rear naked chokes and neck cranks.
Round two was much different, Chimaev fighting at a much more reserved pace; he probably fatigued his legs a bit in that opening round with all that back control. Usman lands the most significant strikes of the round, a hard one-two combination followed by a calf kick about four minutes in. Chimaev then takes Usman down again in the final 40 seconds and remains on top until the bell sounds.
Usman also changed levels for takedowns a number of times in the second, but never fully committed to any of them.
Chimaev attempts a couple early takedowns in the third and final round, Usman stuffing each of them before getting back to work with his striking. Usman was getting the better of the exchanges in the third up until he was taken back down midway through it.
Usman works his way back up with about 30 seconds left on the clock, though he’s unable to get anything of significance going in the final moments of the bout.
Khamzat Chimaev just dominated Kamaru Usman, taking him down four times. Usman had only ever been taken down twice prior, once by each Leon Edwards and Colby Covington. Chimaev arguably won all three rounds against him, and was certainly the first man to ever secure a 10-8 round against him.
It’s a wonder how one judge possibly could’ve scored this fight a draw.
Nonetheless, Khamzat Chimaev remains undefeated today in UFC 294’s co-main event.
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