Khamzat Chimaev has caused chaos in the UFC ever since his debut. The Swedish sensation has not only marketed himself excellently but he’s also destroyed every person UFC put in his path.
Just last year, he defeated two established UFC veterans, Gilbert Burns and Kevin Holland. Yes, he couldn’t make weight against Holland, but his sheer dominance in the event was enough to overshadow this fact.
Now, Khamzat is closer to a title shot than ever, and Michael Bisping thinks that he’ll win the welterweight title this year. Bisping says that the current champion, Leon Edwards, doesn’t have the same grappling prowess that his rivals do.
The former UFC middleweight champion made the case for Khamzat by saying the following in a recent video:
“I’m all about Leon Edwards and I’m team Leon for sure. He’s got a tough fight in Kamaru Usman, one that I do believe he can win and has a very good chance of winning… However, the problem for Leon, and I’m not saying he can’t beat them, is that the top 5, and in fact, the majority of the top 10 at welterweight are all very, very strong, technical grapplers.”
“And being predominantly a striker, that’s a problem for Leon… Eventually, I think someone’s gonna get it done… The one that I think is going to be standing with the belt will be Khamzat Chimaev. That’s the guy.”
Bisping has previously praised Khamzat’s “super villain” demeanor. After his victory over Holland, the British MMA legend said that he came “straight out of a Bond movie.” He said that Khamzat is very good for business.
Last we heard from Chimaev, he claimed that 4 different guys from 4 different countries refused to sign a contract to face him in a UFC cage. He’s clearly vying for a chance to get to compete against Alex Pereira.
Many question if Chimaev can even make welterweight ever again after some ‘swole’ pics of him surfaced.