Kamaru Usman has a whole list of fighters hoping to land a fight with him and that includes the Swedish hotshot Khamzat Chimaev. The UFC welterweight champion has been on a great run since winning the title in 2019.

The Nigerian welterweight champion was at UFC 274 and took the opportunity to speak with reporters. It was inevitable that Kamaru Usman was going to have to answer questions about Khamzat Chimaev.

“He's a competitor,” Usman told reporters at UFC 274 via MMAJunkie. “Each and every one of these guys in the division is a competitor. So I take them as competitors, I take them that serious. But as far as putting anything extra on anybody just to try to give them a boost, I don’t really care about that.

“Gilbert Burns was just as tough of a fighter as Colby Covington, just as tough as Jorge Masvidal. I don’t really try to put anything extra on these guys. Of course, I love the extra zeros on the checks if they bring that much eye balls, but at the end of the day, they’re just competitors, and I see no face.”

He may be nothing special to Kamaru Usman but his fight at UFC 273 was considered special by many people. Gilbert Burns may have provided Usman with the blueprint to beating Khamzat Chimaev.

‘It was a good fight,” Usman said. “I think a couple of things here and there on both sides, I think one of those guys would’ve gotten that finish. But that just goes to show that anybody is beatable. Anybody is beatable. Gilbert is a warrior. I’ve known that for a long, long time.”