As we all know by now, Khamzat Chimaev is very confident in his ability and that was further proven by him expressing his goal of wanting to become champion at both welterweight and middleweight.
Of course, he still has a decent way to go before he can get that first title shot, having only debuted for the promotion in July.
But with a few more emphatic and decisive wins, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Chimaev in a championship fight in the near future especially given his rising star power.
So how does he see a fight going with current welterweight champion Kamaru Usman?
“He’s a good fighter but doesn’t have that knockout punch like I have and doesn’t have wrestling like me,” Chimaev said in a recent chat with Dan Hardy. “What is he going to do? If I do my hard work in the gym, nobody can beat me in the fight.”
As for unbeaten middleweight king Israel Adesanya, Chimaev did acknowledge his standup ability but adds that nobody has truly tested him in the wrestling department.
“I think Paulo Costa was scared in this fight [against Adesanya at UFC 253],” Chimaev added. “I don’t know why people are scared to go in the cage and fight. In the gym, everybody tough, hard sparring but when it comes to the cage, they are being chicken. I don’t understand this mentality.
“He’s [Adesanya] good in the standup but nobody did any wrestling with him. Yoel Romero, he only threw three or four punches in the standup. I can beat this guy. How is he going to come up from under me if I take him down? I don’t think he will. I’m going to beat his face.”
For now, Chimaev has his biggest test in front of him in welterweight contender Leon Edwards, who he is slated to fight on December 19.
A huge win there and Chimaev will certainly be knocking on Usman’s door soon enough.
