Khamzat Chimaev coach Azamat ‘Ozzy’ Dugulubgov has seemingly leaked his fighter’s next opponent. The consensus was that ‘Borz’ would fight Kamaru Usman – the two have called each other out multiple times – but according to his coach, he won’t be fighting the former champion next.
Next Opponent For Khamzat Chimaev
Chimaev and Usman have been teasing fans with the idea of a fight for months now. In his recent appearance at a UFC 290 press conference, Usman attempted to clear things up. He said: “At the end of the day I have been – and still am – the boogeyman of this division. I asked for the guy. If you want to fight – you want to be a champion – cut the f****** weight and come fight.”
Chimaev responded to Usman in a Twitter post. “Kamaru Usman, why are you talking about me? You said you want to fight at 84 kilos. The weight is no problem for you. You are the boogeyman, but I am the wolf. Come up,” said Chimaev.
Thanks to Chimaev’s coach and some detective work from @frontkicked on Twitter, it appears that his next opponent will not be Usman, but Jared Cannonier instead. Ozzy was recently in Vegas where he was coaching Jalin Turner for his fight against Dan Hooker. He posted an Instagram story where he is studying tape, and the fight footage has now been deciphered. It appears to be Cannonier’s fight against Kelvin Gastelum.
“My flight got delayed 4x this morning, however I’m not wasting time. Already studying the next opponent for the Borz,” Ozzy wrote in the post.
The Return Of The Wolf
Chimaev has torn his way though opponent after opponent in the UFC. He has enjoyed an unstoppable rise in the promotion, most of the time making it look easy. Gilbert Burns was the only person that came close to ending Chimaev’s dominant run, but after a back-and-forth three round war, the decision went to the Chechen-born fighter.
‘Borz’ needs a new opponent soon. He has been out of action for almost a year now, and his next fight will be highly anticipated. He is on a six fight winning streak in the UFC and has finished all of his opponents except Burns.
Cannonier poses a different threat to his previous matchups, and will undoubtedly be a tougher opponent than the vast majority of them if the fight is made.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
