Unbeaten Chechen Khamzat Chimaev is returning to the UFC a year after he beat Kamaru Usman at UFC 294 to fight another former champion, Robert Whittaker at UFC 308. Ahead of the hotly anticipated matchup, ‘Borz’ was asked about his thoughts on his long-due title shot; to which the boogeyman had a surprising response.
While the rest of the roster is trying to get the title by any means, Chimaev is content with making more money than any of the company’s champions. During a conversation with former middleweight champion, Michael Bisping, he said,
“I’m happy with that… I make more money than any champs man.”
Kicking off his UFC career as a welterweight in 2020, Chimaev became a breakout sensation solely due to his finish rates. In fact, in the year 2020, he had fought thrice, finishing all his opponents.
However, the pandemic hit the Chechen like a freight train, taking away his momentum as frequent health complications started killing his game.
Nevertheless, he made the most out of the given opportunities, beating notable names like Gilbert Burns, Kevin Holland, and Li Jingliang before he moved up to middleweight.
The Chechen was minting money all along as he destroyed his competition one by one. Now, as he gears up for ‘The Reaper,’ Chimaev is at a point where he is content with whatever the UFC has in store for him, whether it be a title shot or another major fight.
In the meantime, the middleweight contender discussed a potential move to light heavyweight fancying a clash against the champion Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira.
Chimaev vs Poatan?
Alex Pereira and Khamzat Chimaev have had quite a few run-ins. The two have gone after each other in the past, poking at one another on social media.
Of course, it was the Chechen who initiated it. Now, this would be a great fight for so many reasons. Pereira, as great as he has been, has yet to fight a grappler or someone who can and will take him to the ground. The Brazilian has deemed Magomed Ankalaev boring and has claimed that it’s the same reason the UFC won’t offer the Russian a title shot.
But Borz moving to light heavyweight would change that situation drastically, won’t it? He can grapple and he can strike and he can do all of that at the same speed, round after round, from the first round to the last.
During the same conversation with Bisping, Chimaev even explained why the fight was such a good matchup for him.
“I’ve been always open for that [fight against Pereira]. I know that stylistically, this match for me [is] much easier than other guys. But in striking, I’m honest, I know the guy can knock me out…The guy is [a] good striker, one of the best guys with hardest punches. But I’m one of the best grappler, best wrestler, he’s not that.
Now, that is a fight worth making. And as far as the weight class goes, the Chechen is already huge and it would actually suit his ever-so-fragile health if he doesn’t have to cut so much weight for the middleweight division.
