Kamaru Usman wants five-round rematch with Khamzat Chimaev, not ruling out return to welterweight

Kamaru Usman is keeping his options open at both middleweight and welterweight.

The former UFC welterweight champion made his middleweight debut on short notice against Khamzat Chimaev this past October, losing a majority decision to the unbeaten fighter.

Usman (20-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) isn’t sure what’s next, but likes the idea of running things back with Chimaev (13-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC), after rallying against him in the second half of their fight. What’s next for him will depend on whether his good friend Israel Adesanya is able to reclaim his middleweight title.

“If they do do Adesanya and (champion Dricus) Du Plessis, it makes sense. Yes, obviously the outcome of that would kind of play a factor in my decision,” Usman told MMA Junkie in an interview promoting his new “Pound 4 Pound” podcast with Henry Cejudo. “Who wouldn’t want to see (that fight)? Chimaev, he wants to be a championship fighter.

“He wants to be a championship-level fighter, why not do a rematch of that for five rounds? Everybody wanted that. Everybody wanted to see that. But it is what it is. There’s a lot of different factors that have to take place here with the championship fight.”

Usman hasn’t closed the door on 170 pounds either. After losing his welterweight title to Leon Edwards by knockout at UFC 278, he dropped a close decision to Edwards in their title-fight rematch at UFC 286.

“Also, I’m not opposed to going back down to welterweight and taking that strap,” Usman said. “I’m a fight away from that, so we’ll see what happens in the title picture. Right now, I’m just chilling and seeing what’s going on, letting my body heal.”