Media Kamaru Usman talks about his decision to fight Khamzat Chimaev on short notice

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Kamaru Usman had a nearly impossible decision to make Wednesday morning ... travel nearly 8,000 miles and fight Khamzat Chimaev on 9 days notice, and now the former welterweight champ is opening up on why he decided to step in against one of the most dangerous men in the world!

"I leave training and I get the call from [manager Ali Abdelaziz] and I'm immediately excited. That's where you are, you're excited about what could potentially be," 36-year-old Usman told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" show on Friday (airs weekdays on FS1).

But, the UFC legend said he didn't want "to be hasty and do something unintelligent," so after speaking with his coaches, who didn't object, Kamaru told his people he'd take Tuesday night to decide.

When the sun rose Wednesday morning, the choice was crystal clear for Usman, who "texted Ali and said, 'Let's do this!'"

Of course, Usman is stepping in for Paulo Costa -- the middleweight contender -- who was originally scheduled to fight Chimaev. unfortunately, Costa is dealing with a medical issue, and wasn't going to be cleared.

With less than two weeks before UFC 294, the co-main event was in serious jeopardy ... but then Kamaru saved the day.

Now, Usman faces a huge challenge in the 29-year-old, undefeated Khamzat ... who Kamaru admits is very dangerous.

"He's very skilled. He's strong, he's big. He's fast, he can wrestle, he can grapple, he can strike. He has everything," Kamaru said, "But so do I."

"At the end of the day, we're all human beings. Everyone feels invincible until someone pokes that balloon."

Usman (#1) and Chimaev (#4), are both top 5 ranked welterweights ... but the fight's being contested at middleweight (185 lbs.)

We asked the Nigerian Nightmare if he's been told a win earns him a title shot.

"I mean, it's a no-brainer," Kamaru said, before making it clear he's solely focused on KC.

"I've got a mountain in front of me that I have to scale. We'll get through that first and then we'll worry about what's next."

Check out the full interview ... there's much more with Kamaru, including whether we've seen the last of him at welterweight, where he's arguably the G.O.A.T.

Now Usman will fly halfway across the world for a fight the fans can hardly wait to watch!
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When my boss calls me in to work 20 miles away on one of my off days i sometimes refuse because I'm a lazy bastard
Respect to Usman travelling 8000 miles to work when he doesn't have to, and risk getting beat up badly. Hopefully he is getting paid very well
 
Usman needs this fight... very smart for him to take it.

The rewards of defeating Khamzat are much greater for his career than the consequences of losing to Khamzat.

Salute to Kamaru for being a warrior and not backing down from a challenge! Good luck!
 
Win win for Usman. A loss doesn’t do much harm, short notice and he’s not even in the picture at MW so a L doesn’t knock him back. But it does give him some future reward within the UFC.

A win does wonders. A title shot and chance to be a two weight class champ. And he wasn’t even considering MW, and now he’s in the title picture considering he wins.
 
Seems extremely relaxed which I like.

The concern though is the lack of a proper camp, and it seems like he's not even working with Whitman at the moment, albeit he has Hooft and Santiago in Florida. And you question if his conditioning is the same at 185.

Would have loved to see this fight at 170 when he was champ.
 
Usman coming in as the babyface non-champion is an interesting vibe leading into this fight. A big underdog, a (widely perceived to be)fading legend, trying to turn back the clock for just 15 minutes against the biggest hype-train I can remember since Jones(deserved). I know Conor had a ton of hype by the promotion but I always felt an equal amount of trepidation existed within the rest of the mma community; fans/media/fighters.

I think I'm more hyped for this than the main event. I've always been a big Usman fan though. His story is fantastic & in truth his nickname should be "The American Dream". He's the epitome of what the American dream was. Come here legally, with next to nothing, work hard & become only as successful as your imagination entails. I hope he carries an American Flag to the Octagon as well as the Nigerian. Maybe come out to Hulk Hogan's old theme song while he's at it LOL
 
Davidjacksonjones said:
When my boss calls me in to work 20 miles away on one of my off days i sometimes refuse because I'm a lazy bastard
Respect to Usman travelling 8000 miles to work when he doesn't have to, and risk getting beat up badly. Hopefully he is getting paid very well
Click to expand...
I assume he's getting paid very well. He's at a stage of his career he dosen't need to say yes to these kinds of things. And from the sounds of it prior to this already had a fairly big fight lined up against Belal. The offer must have been very good including money and a crack at the MW title should he win for a guy of his status in the fight game to walk into a big fight with this little prep.
 
JKS said:
Win win for Usman. A loss doesn’t do much harm, short notice and he’s not even in the picture at MW so a L doesn’t knock him back. But it does give him some future reward within the UFC.

A win does wonders. A title shot and chance to be a two weight class champ. And he wasn’t even considering MW, and now he’s in the title picture considering he wins.
Click to expand...

Doesnt do harm? A loss to Khamzat will hurt his all time legacy
 
UFC tried to push Khamzat into the Title Shot after he was supposed to run thru Nate Diaz. But Khamzat F'd it up.

So now UFC inserts WW Usman into the same Scheme at Middle Weight -- in the hope that Khamzat can get past him and into a Title Shot. Chasing that OIL $ with a Khamzat Championship ASAP -- or so they believe.

Same shit, different weight class.
 
Going to start a petition for MMA fighters to stop saying "At the end of the day" every 7 seconds and submit it to Dana. Once he enforces the new rule, every fighter will be much more eloquent
 
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