Israel Adesanya has been asked by many people if he would be interested in fighting UFC welterweight, Khamzat Chimaev. The current middleweight champion has been doing his best to shut down that possibility.

It seems there is some interest in the matchup from the UFC middleweight champion. Israel Adesanya admits he is paying attention to Khamzat Chimaev, especially after his last dominant win.

“I don’t have to take him seriously till I have to take him seriously,” UFC middleweight champion Adesanya said on the True Geordie Podcast. “And that’s a guy that definitely, I’d like to fight – if he does what he says he wants to do – because guess what? He will bring in a lot of eyes.”

“He’s on his way, but show me something first,” the UFC champion said. “His last fight made me take notice. That was one where I was like, ‘Ooh.’ I know how Jingliang is – he’s good. … There was something he did in that fight – I won’t give it away, but I was like, ‘Hmm, I like that.’ I was really impressed with (what he did).

“So that’s what made me take notice of him properly. But at the moment, still, it’s just barking in the wind because who’s he fought at 185? Look, he can beat a lot of these guys at 185, a lot of the top guys, from what I’ve heard. But let me see it first and then we’ll start talking before all this hype around him.”

It will have to be seen if Khamzat Chimaev will move back up and potentially fight for the UFC middleweight title. Israel Adesanya will have plenty of options and it seems like Jared Cannonier is next.