Khamzat Chimaev was the most hyped fighter in all of the UFC until last year. UFC CEO Dana White, in an interview with TNT Sports last year, revealed that ‘Borz’ was the fighter fans wanted to see in action most, after the megastar Conor McGregor.

However, his UFC 294 bout against Kamaru Usman, which the former welterweight champion took on short notice, turned many fans off. A recent documentary ‘Fight Inc: Inside the UFC’ has shown many behind-the-scenes stuff at the world’s most valuable combat sports promotion.

Chimaev had to face Paulo Costa in the co-main event of UFC 294. However, the Brazilian pulled out barely two weeks from the Abu Dhabi card due to a severe case of staph infection. Already reeling from Charles Oliveira’s withdrawal against Islam Makhachev, the UFC officials were panicking.

With withdrawals from both the main event and co-main event, UFC 294 was facing the real possibility of falling off entirely. However, Campbell decided to pull out a trump card and approach Usman to step in for Costa.

In the video, the UFC CBO called Usman’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, promising to let Usman fight for the middleweight title, telling him: “He and Strickland is the fight I can make fast, if he wins”. Usman had been going back and forth with Khamzat Chimaev earlier but had refused to move to middleweight.

However, with the pot sweetened with a possible title shot and undoubtedly a significant amount of money, Usman agreed to move up and fight at 180 for the first time. While Chimaev managed to eke through a majority decision against ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’, it left many unconvinced.

That saw Chimaev, once the most hyped fighter in the UFC, fall from grace among fans. It was apparent in the fan reactions to the clip of Campbell scrambling to make Usman-Chimaev.

Fans call-out Khamzat Chimaev

One fan felt that despite having less than two weeks to prepare against the feared Khamzat Chechen: “Usman on 10-day notice exposed Khamzat.” Another fan thought that with his performance and fall from grace” “Khamzat ruined all the plans” of Hunter Campbell. One fan echoed these sentiments in nearly the same words: “Khamzat ruining ufcs plan and himself “

There was a netizen who reiterated a common criticism of the bout and asked “If it was a title eliminator why didn’t they do 5 Round.?” Another repeated what Dana White had alluded to in his UFC 294 post-fight press conference and declared that: “If Usman had 5 rounds with him he would kill him 👏”

Another observed that “Usman gave him troubles” during their number one title contender bout. One fan echoed the sentiments of a number of UFC fans who feel that “Unfortunately Usman was robbed.”

‘Borz’ however has a great opportunity to turn the tides and get the fans on his side once again as he faces a dangerous veteran next. For his next opponent, Chimaev will face former middleweight champ Robert Whittaker at their Fight Night main event bout on June 22.

A victory over the beloved Kiwi in the first UFC event in Saudi Arabia is imperative if the Chechen wants to get into fans’ good graces. Otherwise, he risks going down as an overhyped fighter who couldn’t hang with the very best in the UFC.