‘I Was Gonna Say Colby Covington But…’- Daniel Cormier Has a Compelling Fight for Khamzat Chimaev Next, and It’s Not Colby Covington

Posted on by Matt James

On a recent episode of ‘DC and RC’ on ESPN, Daniel Cormier suggested a compelling fight for feared contender Khamzat Chimaev following his impressive win over Gilbert Burns. UFC President Dana White had initially suggested that Chimaev takes on Colby Covington as his final test before fighting Kamaru Usman for the belt.

However, Cormier believes that Covington will get the better of Usman and then will end up facing Kamaru Usman for a third time much as Alex Volkanovski will take on Max Holloway after already going 2-0 against him.

Who should Khamzat Chimaev face next?

Instead, the Hall of Famer suggested that Khamzat Chimaev take on the dark horse of the division in Belal Muhammad. Cormier believes that this will eliminate the possibility of a carousel of rematches from taking place at welterweight.

“I was gonna say Colby Covington but the reality is, Covington beats Khamzat and Kamaru Usman wins, what do you do?” Cormier said. “And you’re looking at the same situation as we have at featherweight. We have the same situation with (Max) Holloway and (Alexander) Volkanovski, but I don’t think Khamzat waits.”

“What I believe Khamzat should do because the UFC should push this because the UFC needs him and Islam (Makhachev), those guys to fight in Abu Dhabi, I think you put Khamzat versus Belal Muhammad.”

Additionally, Cormier said that Belal Muhammad’s style is guaranteed to drag out a tough and gritty fight against Chimaev, albeit not the most entertaining affair.

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“Belal Muhammad has a style that at times can be a bit less than entertaining,” Cormier added. “By putting him in there with a guy like Khamzat, it almost guarantees that he has to fight because he won’t just take Khamzat down. [h/t mmajunkie.com]

The winner of a potential Chimaev vs Muhammad match-up would ensure that Usman has new blood to face as the champion. However, all the aforementioned projections could simply fly out of the window if Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards emerges and dethrones the long-reigning welterweight king when he finally rematches ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ later this year.