- Henry Cejudo named Colby Covington and Khamzat Chimaev as Kamaru Usman’s next possible opponents
- “Triple C” thinks it’s best for “The Nigerian Nightmare” to push for “Borz”
As the UFC 286 smoke settles, Henry Cejudo tries to see what could be next for Kamaru Usman. For “Triple C,” a rubber match with Colby Covington or a showdown with Khamzat Chimaev makes sense.
A difficult decision to make
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Cejudo speculated that “The Nigerian Nightmare” could stay patient and hope that “Chaos” dethrones Leon Edwards should they end up fighting next. But should Usman decide he’d bounce back right away, “Borz” presents a strong case to be his perfect match.
“The best thing to do for Kamaru Usman and I don’t know if he wants to do this and he probably doesn’t want to do this, is to wait. To wait until the Leon Edwards-Colby Covington fight gets announced and then he catches and then hoping Colby wins and then he catches Colby Covington so they can have their rubber match. But that being said, there’s a guy by the name of Khamzat Chimaev, who’s been calling all these guys out at 170 pounds, that’s another great fight for Kamaru Usman because this fight right here, because of the wrestling, it will be neutralized. Kamaru Usman is not easy to take down neither is Khamzat Chimaev,” Cejudo assessed.
Time is not on Kamaru’s side
While Cejudo thinks Usman still got a variety of big fights to choose from, he also pointed out that waiting to get another crack at the title will be too long. For the former UFC champ-champ, it’s best for “The Nigerian Nightmare” to go for Chimaev or the winner between Belal Muhammad and Shavkat Rakhmonov.
“By the time he fights Colby Covington, we’re possibly looking at a year and a half. I like to fight with with Khamzat, I like to fight with the winner of of Belal Muhammad and the ‘Kazakhstanian Nightmare’, I think either one of those fights. I think Kamaru really needs to compete again because he’s been out with this with this injury but it all depends on what is it that he wants to do because if he does wait you’re looking way over a year for Kamaru Usman to fight again it’s almost like a miniature retirement,” Cejudo concluded.
Usman failed to reclaim his welterweight title at UFC 286 as he lost to Edwards via majority decision. However, the former champ insisted that he is far from done and he would be looking forward to facing “Rocky” again in the future.
On the other hand, Covington is currently the favorite to become the next welterweight title challenger. However, nothing is progressing yet as Edwards doesn’t think “Chaos” is deserving of a title shot.
As for Chimaev, he remains one of the top welterweight contenders but his name is constantly being linked to a showdown with highly-ranked middleweights, including reigning 185-pound king Alex Pereira.
