“He’s a big and strong guy, but I’m a big and strong guy too,” the Nigerian told TMZ Sports. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter – when we get on the scale, we’re both going to weigh 84 pounds and then we’re going to go into the cage and have a fight.”
“He’s definitely talented. We’ve seen him come out against different opponents and he’s shown something special every time. He’s trained, he’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, he can wrestle, fight in the stand-up, compete in grappling – he has everything, just like me. But we’re all human – everyone feels invincible until someone comes out and shows that they’re not.”
Usman also confirmed that the winner of their fight will get a title shot and face current UFC middleweight champion, Sean Strickland, who sensationally took the belt from Israel Adesanya.
“Yes it is. I had a reason why I didn’t want to move up to middleweight, now it’s gone, but before I can think about a fight against Sean Strickland, I need to overcome the mountain in front of me. So, let’s do that first and then we’ll think about the rest of it.”
As a reminder, the fight between Hamzat Chimaev and Kamaru Usman will be the second main event of UFC 294, which takes place on October 21 in Abu Dhabi.