Weeks of Israel Adesanya Conundrum Ended by Dana White as Confession Regarding Kamaru Usman vs. Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 Breaks Out

Undefeated Khamzat Chimaev finally has an opponent to make his return at UFC 294. Dana White has paired him up with former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in the co-main event in Abu Dhabi. Moreover, he made a confession regarding that fight, which has put a big question mark on Israel Adesanya‘s title aspirations.

Khamzat Chimaev was initially supposed to fight Paulo Costa on his return to the Octagon. However, ‘Borrachinha’ suffered an elbow injury a few weeks before the fight, which ruled him out of UFC 294. Dana White quickly responded by setting ‘Borz’ up against Kamaru Usman, who had wanted to fight Chimaev for a long time. In addition to that, their fight may also have an implication.

Dana White sets huge title implications on the UFC 294 co-main event

Khamzat Chimaev has been one of the biggest rising stars in the UFC. He’s on an incredible six-fight winning streak and is looking to get into title contention. On the other hand, Kamaru Usman is coming off a couple of losses against Leon Edwards. He has already made his name in the welterweight division and is now set to fight in a middleweight bout against ‘Borz’. Moreover, Dana White has added a twist to the outcome of the fight.

As per a report by Kevin Lole of Yahoo Sports, Dana White has already made up his mind for the next middleweight title contender. The UFC CEO is reportedly going to award a title fight against Sean Strickland to the winner of the UFC 294 co-main event. But what does that mean for Israel Adesanya? Let us take a look at that front.

Will Israel Adesanya get snubbed out of the title picture?

When ‘The Last Stylebender’ suffered an upset loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293, Dana White immediately mentioned Adesanya getting a rematch. However, many people, including popular UFC personalities, did not take a liking to that announcement. Even UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier claimed that the middleweight division should move on from Israel Adesanya. Due to the backlash from his earlier statement, White backtracked on his decision to award an immediate rematch to the former champion.

Now, with the blockbuster confession regarding the title implication in the Khamzat Chimaev vs Kamaru Usman fight, Israel Adesanya may have to take a different route back to the title. However, there are no official confirmations of Dana White’s confession till now. But a large section of fans believe that Chimaev might be next in line to fight Sean Strickland.

Read More: Is Khamzat Chimaev Trained by Khabib Nurmagomedov? Was the Undefeated UFC Star a Part of the Russian’s Camp?

Even after Dana White’s recent confession, cards are always subject to change. Anything can happen in the world of MMA and we still don’t know for sure if Israel Adesanya will move out of the title picture. We will have to wait and see how things pan out when UFC 294 is over and done with. What are your thoughts on this development? Drop your comments below.

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