"We had a fight with Kamaru Usman. We were preparing for one type of fighter, Paulo Costa... A couple of days before the switch, they switched, the opposite -- we didn't prepare for that... And then people start to say, 'If it would five rounds.' Bro, this is delusional,"
"We all know this is a three-round fight -- preparation for three rounds... Five rounds, pure dominance [against Dricus], so now nobody talks about fighting five rounds anymore. But people say that the fight was boring. Khamzat asked, 'Can I strike?' and if we said yes, we'd just become sloppy, unprofessional, and cocky at the wrong moment... If he got k"
Khamzat Chimaev was scheduled to fight Paulo Costa at UFC 294 in 2023, but Costa withdrew injured and Kamaru Usman replaced him on nine days' notice. Chimaev won a majority decision over Usman but appeared visibly exhausted in the final round, prompting suggestions Usman could have prevailed in a five-round contest. The camp had prepared specifically for a three-round fight, which requires different pacing and conditioning than a five-round bout. Chimaev later went five rounds against Dricus Du Plessis for the middleweight title at UFC 319 and dominated for 25 minutes to secure a unanimous decision. That performance answered immediate stamina questions but prompted criticism for a cautious, uneventful style. Chimazat asked to trade strikes in the title fight but remained on a disciplined gameplan to avoid sloppiness or overconfidence.
Read at Sherdog
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