The countdown to UFC 319 is in full swing, and Khamzat Chimaev is sharpening his weapons. The undefeated Chechen is set to face middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis in his first-ever five-round fight. The stakes? A world title, his perfect record, and perhaps his most personal battle against critics who have circled the same target for years, his cardio.
Can he survive the relentless pressure of a champion who thrives in the deep waters late inside the Octagon? ‘Borz’ knows exactly what’s being said. And in the UFC 319 countdown video, between grueling training sessions, he finally addressed it head-on.
The Chechen juggernaut stated, “I do my work, like wrestle with the guys, I know how to box with the guys. Same thing preparing for a fight. Work hard. People say like Dricus has good cardio, he has good this. And people watching me, oh he has bad this, bad this, he hype. How many years I’ve been in the UFC, still people say he’s hype.”
Since making his UFC debut in 2020, Chimaev has looked virtually unstoppable, even breaking the record for the quickest wins in the modern UFC era with just 10 days between his first and second win! As such, the “hype” criticism falls a little flat when you look at the names he has conquered.
Chimaev pointed to his fights against former champions and pound-for-pound list rankers, Robert Whittaker and Kamaru Usman, as evidence of the same. In fact, at UFC 308, he dismantled ‘The Reaper’ in the very first round, leaving him frantically tapping out to a brutal face crank that even broke some of Whittaker’s teeth.
MMA: UFC 279-Chimaev vs Holland, Sep 10, 2022 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Khamzat Chimaev red gloves fights Kevin Holland blue gloves during UFC 279 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports, 10.09.2022 20:50:06, 19026318, NPStrans, T-Mobile Arena, Holland, Kevin Holland, MMA PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xJoexCamporealex 19026318
Dricus Du Plessis also faced Whittaker in his rise to the top at UFC 290, but it took him 2 rounds to get the finish. As such, Chimaev further shared a razor-sharp response during the countdown video and stated, “Robert, he didn’t get me even one punch. Everyone I fought they say like I’m preparing for war. Why I should prepare for the war? If you want to win, you has to prepare for a k**, to destroy the guy. ”
Those words hang heavy. For ‘Borz,’ this isn’t just about surviving five rounds. It’s about imposing a pace and punishment that his opponent can’t recover from. Yet, cardio is the great equalizer in MMA. It’s the thing that has cost otherwise flawless fighters their crowns. And for Chimaev, the concern isn’t baseless. Against Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman, both three-round fights, he slowed down noticeably in the later stages.
Still, inside the Chechen warrior’s camp, confidence is high. His head coach, Joakin Karlsson, recently stated, “He has a different strength and conditioning coach now. It’s a different level now. I don’t think it’s fair to compare him to one, two years ago.”
And according to a UFC veteran, the questions about ‘Borz’ and his cardio may be the wrong dialogue, as he pointed to a legendary heavyweight who had similar performances late in his fights!
Khamzat Chimaev compared to Fedor Emelianenko by Chael Sonnen in a defiant response to his ‘cardio critics’
Chael Sonnen isn’t buying the narrative that Khamzat Chimaev’s gas tank is his Achilles’ heel. Sure, the Chechen star has looked winded in later rounds before. But to Sonnen, that doesn’t automatically mean he’s vulnerable.
Speaking on The Bohnfire podcast, the outspoken UFC Hall of Famer brought up a name that instantly commands respect: Fedor Emelianenko. According to ‘The Bad Guy, ’ “There’s this big question about Chimaev’s conditioning, and I don’t know if that’s fair. We’ve seen Chimaev get exhausted. But Fedor [Emelianenko] used to get exhausted and he never stopped. It never slowed him down. And it’s the same thing with Chimaev.”
Like Khamzat Chimaev, the heavyweight MMA legend sometimes looked drained mid-fight. Yet, he never stopped coming forward. As such, Sonnen argued that cardio isn’t always about looking fresh in the fourth or fifth round; it’s about whether you can still execute under fatigue.
He further stated, “I don’t think it’s fair to question his conditioning. I think he’s got a bunch of energy and he uses it all, which is what he’s supposed to do. That’s going to get tested, and we are going to find out if that’s accurate.”
Sonnen sees Chimaev as a fighter cut from a similar cloth to the old-school greats: explosive, relentless, and willing to burn through energy if it means breaking an opponent. And if he is right, UFC 319 could be less about who lasts longer and more about who can weather the storm without sinking!
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