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#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.
