Khamzat Chimaev hasn’t been seen in action in the Octagon for a while, but talk is starting to warm up about his potential return, with a possible matchup with former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
However, one man who doubts whether that bout will ever come to fruition is fellow welterweight contender Belal Muhammad, who said that he’s seen a pattern of behavior from the Swedish fighter that suggests to him that the fight is far from a formality.
“This new Twitter age is kind of annoying,” Muhammad told The Schmo.
“Khamzat’s one of the guys, kind of like Conor McGregor. He wants the attention, so he’ll throw out a random tweet here and there, but nothing ever comes of it, right?
“So when (people) say that (Chimaev will fight Kamaru Usman next), I’m like, ‘Bro, that fight’s not happening.’
“They’ll talk about it, both say something about it, and then there won’t be nothing else.”
Muhammad said that Chimaev’s a master of putting his name out there to stay in the MMA conversation, even though he isn’t currently active.
“You’ll see, ‘Khamzat’s gonna fight this guy! Khamzat’s gonna fight that guy!’” he said.
“So I think it’s literally just talk to stay in the news, stay relevant.”
But, when Chimaev does eventually return, Muhammad said he’d be more than happy to share the Octagon with him… assuming Chimaev can make weight for the matchup.
“If Khamzat makes 170, that would be a great fight,” he said.
“But I doubt he could make 170.”