New Headline: Strickland Dominates, Outclassing All Opposition!

Kamaru Usman thinks Khamzat Chimaev has to change his mentality in a fight against Sean Strickland . Strickland (30-7 MMA, 17-7 UFC) positioned himself for a potential shot at middleweight champion Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) after finishing Anthony Hernandez by TKO at UFC Fight Night 267 . Usman (21-4 MMA, 16-3 UFC) has fought both Strickland and Chimaev.

He defeated Strickland by dominant decision at welterweight, and pushed Chimaev to the brink on short notice in a middleweight bout. "Strickland is extremely tricky to hit," Usman said on his "Pound 4 Pound" podcast with Henry Cejudo. "Everyone gets into this sport and everyone swings at people's heads and try to take off their head.

Strickland has this weird style of kind of relax here, and throws his hands up to block, and leans away to where it's very difficult for people to get to his face, to hit him. " Usman explains that when Chimaev is dead set on taking his opponents down, failing to against Strickland could rattle him. "Khamzat has that one tool that he uses and he could just dominate everybody, but when he's focused on just using that tool, and it doesn't work, then he looks bad in other places," Usman said.

"Khamzat has really good striking – like really good. Let's not forget, it was one shot, put someone away at one point. Or he stood with Gilbert Burns, and he dropped him a few times.