Khamzat Chimaev scored a majority decision victory over former UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman in the co-main event of UFC 294.
UFC President Dana White has a lot of praise for Chimaev’s performance at UFC 294, but he would like to see the fighter be more active going forward.
“Khamzat goes in there and he’s fighting the greatest welterweight of all time – a very tough, crafty veteran,” White said at the UFC 294 post-fight press conference (transcript via Mike Bohn & Farrah Hannoun of MMA Junkie). “Khamzat was built here during COVID. I mean, the kid is unbelievably talented. We need to keep him more active. That’s what we need to do.”
Chimaev also believes that he broke his hand in the first round of the fight against Usman this past weekend at UFC 294.
White says that Chimaev is next for UFC Middleweight Champion Sean Strickland, once the injured hand is taken care of.
“Well, there’s been issues in the past,” White said. “Hopefully, there’s not issues now. Hopefully his hand is not broken and hopefully we can do this title fight.”