Consider Khamzat Chimaev happy for new UFC Champion, Leon Edwards.
‘Rocky’ shocked the world when he became the first man to knock out welterweight kingpin Kamaru Usman at UFC 278. Edwards’ viral headkick KO put the division on notice, with the highly-touted Chimaev right there at the top of the list.
Praise For Edwards
Chimaev was stoked to see his three-time booked opponent take the throne.
“It was an amazing performance for me,” Chimaev said at UFC 279 media day. “He show his heart and last strike, last minute, he knocked him out. And I’m happy for him. He deserved that, he worked hard.”
The Champ Is Ignoring Chimaev
Praise aside, ‘Borz’ does have one problem with Edwards, though. Following his title victory in August, Edwards has yet to mention the name of Stockholm Sweden’s finest. Edwards has talked about a trilogy with Usman, a potential rematch with Nate Diaz, even Jorge Masvidal… but nothing regarding Chimaev.
As you can predict, the #3 welterweight contender wasn’t too happy about that.
“He doesn’t want to talk about me,” Chimaev continued. “Like, I see somebody ask my name and he just jump over my name and speak about Diaz, he speak about Masvidal, Usman, all of them.
“The guy doesn’t want to see my face and all that, you know?”
Let’s see if Leon Edwards will bat an eye on Khamzat Chimaev after UFC 279, where he takes on Nate Diaz.