When you look at the Welterweight contender Khamzat Chimaev today, it’s hard to imagine him losing in a competition.
Khamzat Chimaev’s MMA career has been nothing but perfect, so far. The Chechen nowadays lives in Sweden. He is undefeated in 10 professional bouts, and he has been so dominant that none of his opponents have seen the third round yet.
Before MMA, Khamzat was a noteworthy wrestler in Sweden. Chimaev boasts with an undefeated Freestyle Wrestling record, having won 3 Swedish national championships.
However, a recent video emerged of Khamzat competing under a different name.
Prior to competing as “Khamzat Chimaev”, he used to compete under his birth name “Khamzat Girikhanov”.
Reports say that Khamzat changed his name to “Chimaev” right after his professional MMA debut. The reason for the change is because it means “Viking”.
During his days competing under his birth name, Khamzat once faced the Olympian wrestler Zacarias Berg during a freestyle wrestling match. In the video, fans can see a rare moment that is seeing Khamzat being on the worse end of grappling altercations.
During the bout, Berg is able to score 8 points to none against Khamzat, who eventually gives up due to an injury.
You can watch the wrestling match here:
Now, Chimaev is about to put his undefeated record on the line once again. In the toughest test of his MMA career, Khamzat is gonna be facing Gilbert “Durinho” Burns on the main card of UFC 273.
Burns will not only be the first UFC top 10 ranked fighter that Chimaev faces, but the Brazilian is so well placed in the rankings that, if the Chechen is able to pull it off, he might have a claim to challenge for Kamaru Usman’s belt.