Former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman has only one regret after his fight with Khamzat Chimaev. After middleweight fighter Paulo Costa was pulled out of his fight with Chimaev, the Nigerian Nightmare decided to step in on 10 days’ notice.
Despite the short time to prepare for Borz, the former champion managed to put up a thoroughly exciting performance. While Usman, got dominated in the first round, he made a quick turnaround and started landing power bombs on Chimaev. Usman also made a note to defend Khamzat’s takedown attempts to the best of his ability after the first round.
In the end, the younger fighter took the win via a majority decision and extended his undefeated record. On the other hand, Usman, due to the close loss, regretted taking a 3-round fight with Khamzat. The 36-year-old has been fighting in five-round fights ever since he became the welterweight champion in 2019.
Kamaru Usman says he regrets not fighting Khamzat Chimaev for five rounds (he was offered it)#UFC294
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Due to this, he made miscalculations and did not come off as aggressive in the first round, which helped Khamzat with the scores. Additionally, Usman also revealed that he made a bad decision by accepting a three-round fight against the Borz. He was initially offered a full five-round fight against the wolf and regrets not taking it after the loss.
Despite Usman falling behind in the first round, he managed to go head-to-head with Khamzat after coming right off the couch. Let’s take a look at the scorecards for the event.
Khamzat Chimaev vs Kamaru Usman: Fight scorecard and stats
Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman came very close to defeating Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294. The 20-4 fighter was coming off 10 days’ notice and had only fought in title fights for the last few years. Meanwhile, Chimaev had a full fight camp and has been defeating fighters in three-round fights.
This helped Borz dictate the pace of the fight, as he dominated the 36-year-old in the first round. Khamzat landed a successful takedown early on in the first and controlled Usman for the majority of the round. He also landed 16 significant strikes on Usman and absorbed only 3 from him.
Such performance from Chimaev was awarded with a 10-8 on the judges scorecard. However, things heated up in the second round, and Usman landed 11 significant strikes out of the 18 he attempted. Meanwhile, Khamzat fell short and landed only 9.
#UFC294 Official Scorecard: Kamaru Usman vs Khamzat Chimaev (@KChimaev)
Complete Scorecards: https://t.co/b9WjWPOLEF
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The same pattern was seen in the third round, where Usman out-struck Chimaev. However, the 29-year-old fighter had considerably more ground control time throughout the fight. In the end, Khamzat finished with 7 minutes and 16 seconds of ground control time and landed 38 of the 70 strikes thrown.
Usman, on the other hand, had only 4 seconds of control time and averaged 54 percent significant strikes by the end of the fight. Two judges scored the contest 29-27, but one judge believed that it was a tie and scored it 28-28.
Regardless, Khamzat won the fight via a majority decision and might soon fight for the title next.
Do you think Khamzat Chimaev will become a champion in 2024? Let us know your opinions in the comments below.