Israel Adesanya has recently been linked to Khamzat Chimaev by Henry Cejudo. The former UFC bantamweight champion was discussing who he thinks could currently beat the middleweight champion.

It was an odd choice but one that Henry Cejudo picked because of his wrestling. Israel Adesanya's fight at UFC 271 against Robert Whittaker left many different reactions with most not very impressed.

Israel Adesanya was asked about UFC welterweight Khamzat Chimaev and the champion did not hold back. He doesn't consider the Swedish fighter relevant to him.

“He’s not really relevant right now,” Adesanya said on The MMA Hour. “I don’t have to take him seriously until I have to take him seriously. His last fight I was impressed with. I was like, ‘Yo, that guy’s good.’ But there’s levels. So we’ll see how he does with Gilbert [Burns]. And he’s only fought like one Middleweight fight that I’ve seen and I’m just like who’s he fought? He can beat a lot of Middleweights, I'll tell ya that much. A lot of top-level Middleweights. But I don’t have to take him seriously until I have to take him seriously. And I feel like it’s gonna be the same thing with how [Paulo] Costa got set up.”

A fight between Israel Adesanya and Khamzat Chimaev seems extremely unlikely with neither man being in a position to fight the other. One is the defending UFC middleweight champion whilst the other one is a rising contender at welterweight looking for a signature win in the promotion.