If Khamzat
Chimaev defeats Nate Diaz in
the UFC
279 main event next month, a welterweight championship fight
could very well be in his future.
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UFC president Dana White indicated as much when asked about what
could be next for Chimaev with a win on Sept. 10 at the T-Mobile
Arena in Las Vegas. Chimaev has taken the promotion by storm with
wins in his first five appearances, including a decision triumph
over Gilbert
Burns in his last outing at UFC 273.
“It’s fair,” White said at the Contender Series press conference on
Tuesday night. “I don’t ever do that s—t, but yeah, it’s fair to
say if he wins, that’s the fight to make. [Usman has] already beat
everybody twice in the top whatever, so yeah, that makes
sense.”
On the other hand, White is not necessarily on board with Usman’s
goal of moving up two divisions to challenge for the 205-pound
belt, but he won’t stand in the way if “The Nigerian Nightmare”
bests Leon
Edwards at UFC
278.
“You know what doesn’t make sense? 205. But you know what? Look
what the guy has done,” White said. “He said, ‘I want to go fight
at 205.’ What am I gonna do? What am I gonna tell him, right? Why
would you not give him the opportunity?”
White agrees that a potential Usman-Chimaev bout would be a
blockbuster for the UFC. He cautions that overlooking Diaz would be
a mistake, though.
“It’s huge. Especially if he wins the Nate fight, absolutely,”
White said.
“I did a bunch of media today, and everybody’s counting Nate Diaz out
… You can’t count anybody out. In this sport, you never know what’s
going to happen. Anything is possible.”