Kamaru Usman believes a matchup between Khamzat Chimaev and Magomed Ankalaev could help stabilize the uncertain light heavyweight title picture.
The division was thrown into flux earlier this year when former champion Alex Pereira (13-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) vacated the 205-pound belt to pursue a move up to heavyweight. A new champion was crowned at UFC 327 in Miami, where Carlos Ulberg (14-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) delivered a stunning first-round knockout of Jiri Prochazka to claim the vacant title.
However, Ulberg’s reign may be short-lived, at least temporarily. The New Zealander recently revealed he suffered a ruptured ACL during the fight and has already undergone surgery, an injury expected to sideline him for an extended period and leave the immediate future of the division unclear.
Speaking on his Pound4Pound podcast, Usman suggested the UFC could turn to Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC), the current middleweight champion, to inject clarity into the situation.
“Chimaev has been talking about it the whole time. He wants to move up,” Usman said. “Chimaev is fighting (Sean Strickland at UFC 328) in, what, two weeks? Three weeks? So if Chimaev goes out there and defends his title, and he decides, ‘yeah, I'm done with that division, let’s go up.’”
Usman pointed to Ulberg’s injury as a key factor that could justify creating an interim title fight, or even vacating the belt altogether.
“And Ulberg is potentially out for nine to 12 months, I think business as usual. Interim title, or vacate the title,” Usman said.
In that scenario, Usman believes a clash between Chimaev and Ankalaev (21-2-1 MMA, 12-2-1 UFC) would be both logical and compelling.
“Khamzat Chimaev against Magomed Ankalaev. Why not? Does it not make sense?” Usman said. “That’s a fire matchup right there. It’s an incredible matchup.”
