Matt Brown praises Kamaru Usman after close loss to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294: ‘If he had 6 weeks, he wins that fight’
Kamaru Usman didn’t win his fight at UFC 294 but he still managed to push Khamzat Chimaev to the brink of defeat in a razor-close majority decision after three hard fought rounds.
Of course, Usman accepted the matchup on just 11 days’ notice after Paulo Costa was forced off the card due to a serious staph infection that required surgery so it definitely wasn’t an ideal circumstance. Still, the former UFC welterweight champion nearly pulled off the upset while competing at middleweight for the first time against a fighter in Chimaev, who many consider a force of nature guaranteed to claim UFC gold sooner rather than later.
Even in defeat, UFC welterweight Matt Brown praised Usman for his performance, especially considering how close he came to winning without any actual time to get ready for Chimaev.
“Usman maybe exposed [Chimaev] a little bit or a lot of people are saying maybe Chimaev isn’t what we thought he was,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “I say Usman is more than we thought he was. That son of a b**** got the job done. If he had six weeks, he wins that fight.”
While Usman offered no excuses for the loss, Brown says accepting the fight on such short notice absolutely made the difference in the result. Chimaev came storming out of the gate in the opening round and took Usman down to the mat where he dominated the majority of the five-minute session.
All three judges at UFC 294 gave Chimaev a 10-8 score in the first round, which meant Usman either had to return the favor or deliver a finish if he wanted to walk away with a victory rather than a draw. Ultimately, Usman actually managed to earn a draw on one scorecard but the other two judges gave Chimaev the nod for the win.
“I do think the short notice had a little bit to do with it because that first round was the big loser for him,” Brown said about Usman’s performance. “If he had been working on his wrestling for six weeks to prepare for Chimaev, that first round may not have been so bad for instance. It might have been like the second round or the third round.”
Usman’s valiant effort still didn’t get him the win, which unfortunately marks his third straight loss in a row but Brown argues that shouldn’t actually hurt him much at all.
“It elevated Usman a lot,” Brown said. “He didn’t look tired at the end. He looks like he could have fought a couple more rounds. It speaks to the professionalism of Usman. This guy was ready that quickly against Chimaev.”
When it comes to Chimaev, he picked up the biggest win of his career by taking out a bona fide welterweight legend in Usman but the fight wasn’t as one-sided as many expected.
That’s largely thanks to Chimaev earning a fearsome reputation after first joining the UFC roster when he promptly tore through several opponents with little resistance. That changed with his three-round war against Gilbert Burns in 2022 and then the same could be said after earning a majority decision win over Usman this past weekend.
Those victories weren’t blowouts but Brown says it’s unrealistic to believe anybody would just demolish two of the best fighters on the planet.
“I don’t take nothing away from Chimaev,” Brown said. “A lot of people are diminishing him now because Usman coming in on such short notice but Khamzat is a killer. I think he’s going to do everything we thought he was going to do.
“When you get to that level, everybody was talking about he’s a killer, a destroyer, a smasher but at that level, you just don’t do that every time. There’s just no way. We’re still human beings.”
UFC CEO Dana White already declared that Chimaev’s win will earn him a middleweight title shot against reigning champion Sean Strickland, who claimed the belt in September with a stunning performance over Israel Adesanya.
As much as Brown touts Dricus du Plessis as the true No. 1 contender in the division, he can’t deny Chimaev’s chances to dethrone Strickland if that fight actually happens in 2024.
“I think [Chimaev] matches up pretty well with Strickland,” Brown said. “I’ve got to say that much. I don’t think Strickland is the wrestler than Usman is. Khamzat’s going to wrestle him. That’s what he’s going to do to most people and it’s hard to imagine Strickland dealing with the wrestling like that.”
