Strickland refused to fight Chimaev

According to ESPN, Kamaru Usman was not the first or second candidate to replace Paulo Costa, who was forced to withdraw from the fight against Khamzata Chimaeva. Initially, the current UFC middleweight champion was offered to replace him Sean Strickland, but he refused, explaining that only in September he had a difficult fight with Adesanya.

Then Jared Cannonier received an offer. He agreed, but pulled out of the fight soon after, citing injury.

And only after this the promotion management turned to former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, and he agreed.