Khamzat Chimaev mad his name in the UFC by manhandling his opponents before they had a chance to even land a single strike and having exceptionally fast turn around. But days of Chimaev taking on short notice opponents and wanting to take on anyone, any time are over – according to his coach.
Chimaev (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) has competed at both welterweight and middleweight throughout his career. After defeating former title challenger Gilbert Burns at UFC 273, he has become a top contender at 170 pounds.
Nevertheless, Chimaev failed to make weight for the welterweight division for his outing against Nate Diaz at UFC 279. As a consequence, he was shuffled to compete against Kevin Holland at catchweight. Chimaev submitted Kevin Holland in Round 1.
Michael said on Submission Radio:
“It’s middleweight.”
“But if the title comes at welterweight, miracles can happen – and they will happen. We will get him down, don’t worry. He’s getting strong for the new weight class.”
Michael believes that his undefeated star pupil has earned the right to either compete in a title eliminator or get a straight title shot.
According to Michael, the only problem that Chimaev is having is trouble finding an opponent to compete against.
“And a lot of people say they want it, but they don’t want it. Or they price themselves out. Like, ‘I want this and that,’ and then all of a sudden they want a million dollars when their contract is like $50,000 to show $50,000 to win). So it’s not logical, either.”
“Guys are just doing their work, doing what they need to make a living and to make a name of themselves. I never take these things serious. I just want to progress.”
“People say they want to fight, but they don’t want to fight. People price themselves out. There’s some people that, of course they want to fight, as well, but they don’t make sense. There’s a lot of factors (that go) into things. ”
“We’re not just going to fight just for the fight’s sake. Things have to pave the way forward. Of course, there’s a lot of people that want to fight Khamzat. And if he just wanted to, he’d just be like, ‘OK, who’s in the top 20?’
“But I think we’re past that, aren’t we? I think we need to get the top dogs right now, or go for a title fight. The top dogs – like, the No. 1 contender or a title fight. And that’s why there’s not a lot of choices out there at the moment, because our spectrum has closed. It was broad before. Now it’s closed down. We’re honing in. We want the No. 1 contender or the champ – preferably the champ. And I think he’s earned it.”
Michael went on to reveal that Chimaev was once preparing to face Alex Pereira in Rio De Janeiro at UFC 283 but the bout didn’t come together after all. Now he will be sitting out training during the month of Ramadan and aiming for a return after a full camp after.