Khamzat Chimaev: Kamaru Usman ‘won’t be the same’ after knockout by Leon Edwards

Many fans expected Usman to retain the UFC welterweight title against Edwards and fight Chimaev next

Rising UFC welterweight Khamzat Chimaev has said he thinks Kamaru Usman ‘won’t be the same’ after his knockout loss to Leon Edwards.

Many fans expected Usman to retain the UFC welterweight title against Edwards last month and fight Chimaev next, but Edwards knocked out the Nigerian-American in the final minute of their five-round fight to become Britain’s second ever UFC champion.

And Chimaev, who faces fan favourite Nate Diaz in the main event of UFC 279 this Saturday (10 September), has weighed in on how the head-kick knockout could affect Usman going forward.

“It was a crazy fight, good fight,” Chimaev told ESPN. “I learned a lot of things [from] that fight.

“It was funny to watch. [Usman] was too much high up, [saying], ‘I’m gonna fight with Canelo [Alvarez, boxing champion],’ and he got shot.

“Leon comes and shot his head, dropped the guy. I don’t think he’ll be the same guy again, in the mind.

“We’ve seen a lot of champions thinking, ‘Nobody can beat me,’ because he defended [the title] so many times. ‘Now I’m unbeatable,’ that kind of thing.

“And bam, somebody knocks you out. Now you know you’re human as well.”

Usman, 35, had successfully defended the welterweight title five times and was unbeaten in nine years before losing the belt to Edwards, whom he had previously outpointed in 2015.