Legendary MMA coach dubs Khamzat Chimaev "the greatest middleweight ever" over Anderson Silva: "The Khabib of the middleweight division"

Khamzat Chimaev's performance against Dricus du Plessis to become the new UFC middleweight champion has sparked considerable discussion lately. MMA coach Firas Zahabi recently shared his insights and made a bold claim about Chimaev.

'Borz' delivered a dominant performance at UFC 319, controlling the action for a total of 21 minutes and 40 seconds. This overwhelming display ultimately led the judges to award him a unanimous decision victory.

In a recent video on his gym's YouTube channel, Zahabi praised Chimaev, even labeling him as the "greatest middleweight ever".

"[Du Plessis] is definitely one of the best middleweights ever... But Khamzat [Chimaev] is the greatest middleweight ever. How could I say that he's the greatest middleweight ever? Because I would put him against anybody in the middleweight division, and I'll pick Khamzat any day."

He added:

"Adesanya, DDP, Anderson Silva in his prime, forget about it. None of them could hold a candle to Khamzat. He takes them all down, and he mauls each one of them. He's the Khabib [Nurmagomedov] of the middleweight division. He would beat every single middleweight."

Check out Firas Zahabi's comments below (19:46):

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Rising middleweight contender reflects on Khamzat Chimaev's UFC 319 performance

While many praised Khamzat Chimaev's wrestling-heavy game plan against Dricus du Plessis, some were not pleased with his performance. Among the critics was rising middleweight contender Anthony Hernandez, who expressed his disappointment.

In an interview with ESPN MMA, Hernandez said:

"By round two, I was ready to go smoke. I usually don't stay at all for fights... I understand it's a very beautiful martial arts technique, but there are specialists and there are well-rounded MMA fighters. Like, go out and show some f**king violence, bro. I like to see the striking, I like to see that mixed martial arts." [11:15 of the interview video]