Khamzat Chimaev open to fighting for the middleweight title next if Edwards and Usman have their trilogy

Khamzat Chimaev wants to fight for UFC gold if he beats Nate Diaz, but it might not be at welterweight.

After Chimaev beat Gilbert Burns, many thought he could’ve gotten a title shot but the UFC decided to have Kamaru Usman face Leon Edwards. With a minute left in the fight, it appeared that Usman was going to be on his way to winning, however, Edwards landed a clean head kick that knocked the champ out cold.

With Edwards pulling off the upset, the plan now is for him to have his first title defense against Usman sometime next year. With that, Chimaev says if he beats Diaz at UFC 279 he may pay close attention to UFC 281 as he says he wouldn’t mind fighting for the middleweight title instead of waiting for Edwards-Usman 3 to happen.

“If they want to do it, for me no problem. I’m gonna take some other fight, and we will see what’s happening. Maybe Israel Adesanya or the other guy, Pereira. Who wins that, maybe fight with them. I don’t know,” Chimaev said to ESPN about if the UFC does Edwards-Usman 3 and what he would want.

Although Khamzat Chimaev is fighting Nate Diaz at welterweight, he has fought at middleweight so him getting a 185lbs title shot is not out of the question. Along with that, if Israel Adesanya defeats Alex Pereira, there is no clear-cut next contender for the middleweight, and Chimaev vs. Adesanya would be a massive fight. Chimaev has also taken shots at Adesanya in the past so there is a storyline there.

For now, however, Chimaev is focused on his UFC 279 main event scrap against Nate Diaz. If he wins that, the floodgates then open for potential next opponents and that includes moving up to middleweight and allowing the welterweight title picture to play out.

Would you like to see Khamzat Chimaev get a middleweight title shot if he beats Nate Diaz at UFC 279?