Khamzat Chimaev has remained one of the most hyped fighters on the entire UFC roster ever since his dramatic debut where he rattled off three wins inside two months, but now, he’ll face his toughest test going against middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis on Saturday.
The undefeated Chechen is going for gold for the first time in his career when he clashes with du Plessis in the UFC 319 main event, but despite being the challenger, Chimaev is actually favored to win. Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman had nothing but praise for Chimaev when addressing his chances of beating du Plessis to claim the title.
In fact, Weidman was very happy to see Chimaev address arguably his biggest issue when he teamed up with famed coach Sam Calavita, who has worked with numerous UFC fighters including former bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw, to help them improve cardio and conditioning.
“Chimaev, he is that guy. He is the boogeyman for a reason,” Weidman said during the UFC Vegas 109 post show. “He was a welterweight, kind of went back and forth for a little bit and then he settled at welterweight for a while and then he goes up and fights Robert Whittaker, a former champion, and what he did to him nobody has ever done before. Finishes him in the first round. Just takes him down, breaks his jaw or breaks his teeth. He just runs right through him.
“Now here he is fighting DDP and it’s super exciting. Because DDP, he doesn’t get tired. Chimaev, we’ve seen slow down in a couple of his fights with [Gilbert] Burns and with [Kamaru] Usman. But now he’s at the Garage with Sam Calavita, who’s a strength coach that’s pretty much known for gassing guys out and getting them in tremendous shape. He’s done that time and time again. So doing everything he’s supposed to do to deal with his issues and we’re going to see the best version of Chimaev.”
But is the best version of Chimaev enough to get through du Plessis?
Weidman believes if Chimaev is going to win the belt, he has to ratchet up the pressure and really go after du Plessis in the early rounds. Even with his improved conditioning, Weidman truly believes that overwhelming du Plessis to start the fight is Chimaev’s best and perhaps only path to victory.
“I think he’s got to finish him,” Weidman said about Chimaev. :I think he’s got to finish him in the first couple of rounds because I don’t see him winning a decision.
“Dricus is just too much. He’s all over the place, it’s hard to track him down. You do not want to be tired against that guy going into the fifth round. He hasn’t had that experience yet.”
While Chimaev has been scheduled for a five-round fight previously, he’s never gone past the third during his UFC career.
As much as Weidman credited Chimaev for addressing his endurance in the leadup to UFC 319, he just knows du Plessis is a monster when it comes to pushing the pace and imposing his will on every opponent he’s faced in the UFC.
That’s why du Plessis remains undefeated in the octagon with the middleweight title securely wrapped around his waist.
“I’m going Dricus later [in the fight] because I’m a genius,” Weidman joked while giving his prediction. “Listen, we just talked about cardio of Chimaev being the issue. DDP, he’s a goer. Basically it comes down to how comfortable you are in there. “I think DDP does a great job of making people uncomfortable. A lot of times what makes you comfortable is having experience being in there in these five round fights and Chimaev doesn’t have that.”
