Henry Cejudo advises Khamzat Chimaev to pursue UFC middleweight title if he beats Nate Diaz

Henry Cejudo thinks Khamzat Chimaev should go after the middleweight title – not welterweight.

With Leon Edwards knocking out Kamaru Usman to capture the 170-pound title this past Saturday at UFC 278, a trilogy bout is expected to take place in early 2023.

Chimaev (11-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) faces Nate Diaz (20-13 MMA, 18-12 UFC) in the UFC 279 headliner Sept. 10 and with a win, Dana White said he’s next in line for a title shot. But that was before Edwards became champion.

Now, instead of waiting, Cejudo thinks Chimaev should just challenge the winner of the185-pound title fight between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira, which headlines UFC 281 on Nov. 12.

“If I was Khamzat Chimaev, I would go up,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “Because these guys (Edwards and Usman) aren’t gonna fight until February. I think Khamzat beats him (Diaz). I think he challenges the winner of Israel and Pereira, and I think if he decides he wants to come back down, he should come back down. But I wouldn’t wait for Kamaru or Leon, because he’s looking at potentially a year before he fights somebody like that. I know Khamzat wants to be active, and he’s struggling to make 170, so that’s what I would do.”

Chimaev has competed four times at middleweight in his career, twice in the UFC. He submitted John Phillips in his promotional debut and knocked out Gerald Meerschaert in just 17 seconds at UFC Fight Night 178 in September 2020.