Former Strikeforce champion Josh Thomson believes Khamzat Chimaev has become a “crybaby” with recent comments about a UFC title shot.
Chimaev had been promised a UFC middleweight title opportunity with a win over Kamaru Usman at UFC 294 back in September 2023. Chimaev won the fight via majority decision, but the next title shot at 185 ended up going to Dricus Du Plessis. Chimaev would reveal that he suffered a mysterious illness and has since recovered.
Now that rumors are swirling of the UFC wanting to bring Israel Adesanya out of his hiatus for a showdown with Du Plessis, Chimaev has been quite vocal about Dana White breaking his promise. Thomson feels it doesn’t paint “Borz” in a good light.
Josh Thomson Scolds Khamzat Chimaev For Recent Comments
During a recent episode of the “WEIGHING IN” podcast, Josh Thomson criticized Khamzat Chimaev for coming across as a complainer.
“Right now, after listening to his interviews he sounds like a crybaby,” Thomson said. “‘I was promised this, I was promised that,’ since when does Dana give a sh*t what he’s promised? We’ve seen before in the past he’s promised fighters a lot. Look, he didn’t have a great performance against Kamaru Usman. You lost the third round against a guy who is a pumped up ’70-pounder who’s pumped up to 185.”
“Big” John McCarthy reminded Thomson of one key factor in Chimaev’s fight with Usman.
“Well,” McCarthy chimed in. “Not only pumped up, a guy who came in on a couple days’ notice, and you’re losing the third round to him?”
Thomson then shared an interesting observation when reflecting on Chimaev’s performances before he caught COVID (not the mystery illness mentioned above) and his outings after.
“Not a good look, and I said this last week was that he hasn’t looked the same since he got COVID,” Thomson said. “His conditioning, his cardio, I haven’t seen him fight long either though, but I’ve seen some of his old fights where he went a little bit later like in the second round, but he looked like he was fine. Since he’s gotten COVID, he seems like his lungs are hurting in some way.”
It’ll be interesting to see who the UFC will match Khamzat Chimaev against next.
