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After a disastrous end to Khamzat Chimaev's weight cut for his canceled UFC 279 bout with Nate Diaz, the MMA world was up in arms. Many narrowed their focus on Chimaev's apparent unprofessionalism. Even after the undefeated Chechen phenom disclosed the medical nature of his reasons for abandoning the weight cut, he garnered no sympathy.
Some suggested that if doctors did indeed advise him to stop his weight cut, he's better suited for a career at middleweight instead of welterweight.
At the UFC 279 post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White was asked by journalists if he should perhaps move Khamzat Chimaev into the middleweight division on a more permanent basis. White seemed to agree with the sentiments, even while echoing Chimaev's assertion that doctors had advised him to stop the weight cut.
However, a future in the middleweight division might be more beneficial to Khamzat Chimaev. Upon closer inspection, his chances of capturing UFC gold at middleweight might be even better than his chances at welterweight, and this list details 5 reasons why.
#5. Khamzat Chimaev is the best wrestler at 185
Wrestling is the most important base in MMA. The ability to ground and control one's opponent on the mat enables fighters to determine the phases of their bouts.
Being able to determine whether a fight will remain standing or go to the ground is a powerful tool that disrupts an opponent's ability to strike comfortably due to the threat of the takedown. No one is willing to throw a punch if squaring one's hips overexposes them to takedowns.
The welterweight division consists of countless wrestlers from Kamaru Usman, Colby Covington and Belal Muhammad to Sean Brady, Michael Chiesa and Shavkat Rakhmonov. The 185 lbs weight class is different, with only Derek Brunson and Kelvin Gastelum being credentialed wrestlers.
While Marvin Vettori has transformed into a serviceable wrestler, his skills pale in comparison to Khamzat Chimaev.
At middleweight, Chimaev will undoubtedly be the most credentialed and effective wrestler in the division. A varied and powerful wrestler who chains his takedowns and is equally adept at shooting for the legs as he is at pursuing bodylocks, 'Borz' also ensures that he creates openings for his takedowns using his striking.
He primarily uses kicks, typically alternating between round kicks and front kicks. Front kicks that land force his opponents to straighten their posture.
By causing his foes to stand tall, Khamzat Chimaev narrows their base. If his opponent's feet are too close together, their footing and balance will be too poor for them to defend takedowns by widening their base or exploding their hips back. Alternatively, a round kick draws a counterpunch from his foe.
However, the moment Chimaev lifts his leg to fake the kick, he ducks under his opponent's punch to shoot in on their squared hips as they load up.
At 185 lbs, no one possesses the breadth of technical skill that Khamzat Chimaev demonstrates with his wrestling. He is just as relentless as Derek Brunson in his pursuit of takedowns, but is far more intelligent in doing so as 'Borz' is rarely, if ever, countered on his way inside. In a division with almost no elite wrestlers, Chimaev will be a force to be reckoned with.
#4. He is among the division's best grapplers
Wrestling is merely one-half of the skill-set that enables a fighter to dominate an opponent in ground-fighting sequences. Takedowns are tools a fighter uses to drag a foe to the mat and even control them.
While fights can and have been won by simply controlling opponents on the mat with hip pressure and heavy top-control, not finishing a foe runs the risk of them surviving long enough to land a flash KO in the next round.
With the exception of Jack Hermansson, the middleweight division is devoid of exceptional grapplers who can consistently finish fights on the ground. A glimpse at Derek Brunson and Marvin Vettori's performances against Kevin Holland is a good indicator of the ground-fighting limitations in the 185 lbs weight class.
Both fighters, who are larger than Khamzat Chimaev, were unable to submit or TKO Holland over the course of 25 minutes.
Chimaev, by contrast, finished 'Trailblazer' within 2 minutes. The moment Khamzat Chimaev secures a takedown, he makes it extremely difficult for his foes to stand back up. He immediately triangles their legs with his own while employing wrist-grips. This way, his opponents are unable to threaten him with chokes from the bottom or strike and fight his own submissions.
Since he's an excellent scrambler, 'Borz' is often one step ahead of his foes. Opponents who try to roll onto their stomachs to push back up to their feet find one of their legs wrapped up by his own, preventing them from pushing off of a stable foot. If his opponents try rolling out of the predicament, 'Borz' keeps a tight bodylock to redirect their momentum as he did against Kevin Holland.
The complexities of the Chechen phenom's grappling deserve far more depth than one entry, however, his sheer tenacity and grappling versatility render him exceedingly dangerous in a division as devoid of elite grapplers as middleweight is.
#3. Speed
Daniel Cormier is one of the greatest fighters in the history of MMA. Furthermore, he is one of the greatest wrestlers to ever compete inside the octagon. Yet even 'DC' was stunned by the sheer speed of Khamzat Chimaev's first takedown shot against Kevin Holland.
It led the former UFC heavyweight champion to compare it to him shooting in for a takedown against UFC President Dana White.
Kevin Holland is not a slow fighter. In fact, when 'Trailblazer' competed at middleweight, every foe he faced struggled mightily against his sheer speed. Even a fighter like Holland, who was too fast for every middleweight he faced, was unable to contend with the blistering speed of Khamzat Chimaev's takedown. At 185 lbs, speed is an invaluable asset.
Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker has defeated countless foes due to the speed of his karate blitz. Thus, a fighter of Chimaev's caliber will greatly trouble the middleweights he will encounter. They'll be ill-equipped to deal with the kind of speed he possesses.
If they're too slow to defend his takedowns, they'll be grounded far more easily. Furthermore, too great a deficit in speed will render them unable to keep up with Khamzat Chimaev in grappling transitions on the mat.
#2. The absence of a weight cut
UFC 279 was defined by Khamzat Chimaev's great blunder. The rising UFC contender failed to make weight for the first time in the promotion. Doctors allegedly instructed 'Borz' to abandon his weight cut, causing him to step on the scale 7.5 lbs over the welterweight limit.
However, as Chimaev once cut weight for a welterweight bout as a late notice replacement 10 days after a middleweight matchup, there is no doubting his ability to make weight.
Still, dehydrating his body to make the cut to 170 lbs has its drawbacks. First, the undefeated Chechen is approaching his thirties, a time when he'll naturally gain more weight and find it more difficult to make the cut down to welterweight.
As one of the largest welterweights on the roster, Khamzat Chimaev would be better served in the middleweight division where he wouldn't have to undergo quite as strenous a weight cut as he would for welterweight.
Khamzat Chimaev is extraordinarily strong. Even at middleweight, his strength is not to be trifled with.
Chimaev outwrestled Jack Hermansson in a freestyle wrestling match late last year, demonstrating superior skill and strength. Hermansson is a large middleweight and would never be able to make the cut down to 170 lbs due to his thicker and more muscled frame. That Khamzat Chimaev possessed a strength advantage over him is very telling.
Furthermore, Daniel Cormier once described Chimaev as "strong" during a mock wrestling exchange. It stands to reason that if Khamzat Chimaev can fight without a weight cut greatly diminishing his toughness and strength, he'll be a significantly tougher and stronger fighter for his foes to contend with.
#1. Israel Adesanya is a better stylistic matchup than the top 3 welterweights
The UFC welterweight division is helmed by 3 fighters: Leon Edwards, Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington. Leon Edwards has transformed into a highly skilled wrestler, against whom Belal Muhammad could not secure takedowns.
Furthermore, Edwards is credited as the first mixed martial artist to take down Usman. Additionally, his striking in the clinch renders it more difficult for Chimaev to search for bodylocks against him.
Edwards is one of the best fighters in the world when it comes to making his opponents pay with hard elbows for pursuing clinch engagements.
Usman and Covington, by contrast, are both highly skilled wrestlers who will test Khamzat Chimaev's suspect cardio if given the chance, while being much harder for the Chechen phenom to impose his primary wrestling gameplan without exhausting himself due to the increased effort.
Israel Adesanya presents no such conundrum. While Khamzat Chimaev would be ill-advised to strike with 'The Last Stylebender' for any extended sequence, Adesanya's takedown defense will not be difficult for Chimaev to breach.
While Adesanya widens his base and explodes his hips back to sprawl effectively, he does not disengage from wrestling exchanges. Khamzat Chimaev is a chain wrestler. As long as he has a grip on his foe, he can simply chain more takedowns.
Furthermore, the reigning middleweight kingpin exhibits an alarming habit of turning over onto his stomach to push off of his hands and feet to get back up, which frequently exposes his back and neck.
Against an aggressive finisher like Chimaev, Adesanya will offer an easy back-mount and rear-naked choke. The Nigerian's reliance on pushing off of his legs is tailormade for Chimaev to counter by triangling one of his legs with his own.
If Khamzat Chimaev secures a takedown, 'The Last Stylebender' may not get back up. While there are several troubling matchups at welterweight, only Robert Whittaker stands out as a difficult foe for 'Borz' at middleweight, due to the Australian's impeccable takedown defense and pin-point striking.
