- Khamzat Chimaev talked about his previous feud with Khabib Nurmagomedov
- “Borz” ranked some of the best UFC fighters based on how difficult they would be as his opponents
Khamzat Chimaev gave his honest thoughts on his past beef with Khabib Nurmagomedov and how he thinks the current top UFC fighters would fare against him.
It was hyped up
Back in 2022, Chimaev and Nurmagomedov got involved in a feud that made headlines in the UFC. Through the help of some of their fellow Muslim brothers, the conflict eventually ended.
Looking back at it now, “Borz” told Adam Zubayrahev he shouldn’t have let himself be swayed by the “hype” and just ignored the issue.
“When I was at the start of my career, like, ‘Would you fight him?’ Of course, we would have never fought each other. We belong to different weight classes. I compete at 185, and back then, I was at 170, but anyway, significant size difference, Khabib had already retired by that time. I was young and lacked experience,” Chimaev reflected.
“I just broke into the UFC [and]… They started comparing me with Khabib and other fighters. With Adlan Amagov, in particular. Of course, when you achieve some good results, they say saying ‘Oh, he’s is like Khabib or Adlan Amagov…’ But everyone has their own achievement. I’ve got mine, Khabib and Adlan has got theirs…every fighter wants to create his own legacy. So, it doesn’t feel good to be compared to anybody else. I just got triggered as someone said that Khabib would smash me, so I responded to that dude. Although I should have not done it. I said, ‘Ok, if Khaib wants to smash me, I am ready to smash him’ and they just hyped that up.”
‘Borz’ assessed the current top UFC fighters
In another interview with Riadhlevrai, Chimeav was asked to ranked some of the best UFC fighters of this era from 1 to 10, based on how difficult are they to beat inside the Octagon.
As expected, “Borz” didn’t think most of them would be a tough matchup with only Jon Jones garnering a score of 9.
“I think 5,” Chimaev said of Sean Strickland. “This guy talks too much. He knows already what I did to him in the gym. He says sparring is different than fighting. They’re the same sh*t, bro.”
“5 [or] 6, too, as well,” Chimaev said of Israel Adesanya. Of course, I’m going to catch him and take him down and squeeze his head off.”
“3 [or] 4,” Chimaev said of Robert Whittaker. “I thought he was a good guy, man. He started to lie now I don’t like that guy.”
“Maybe 2 [or] 3,” Chimaev said of Leon Edwards. “That should be easy. Smash his face.”
“5. Good striker,” Chimeav said of Shavkat Rakhmonov. “He has a good chin, as well, but no wrestling.”
“Not that question, bro. It’s weird because nobody fights with two guys in the UFC,” Chimaev said when asked about fighting Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev at the same time.
“9. I will shoot him [from] far away, man. Don’t make problems, troubles, you know?,” he said of Jones.
Khamzat Chimaev rates fighters from 1-10, 1 being an easy fight and 10 being a difficult fight:
Sean Strickland = 5
Israel Adesanya = 5 to 6
Robert Whittaker = 3 to 4
Leon Edwards = 2 to 3
Shavkat Rakhmonov = 5
Jon Jones = 9🎥 TikTok / Riadhlevrai #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/1hThY32a1X
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) September 22, 2024
Chimaev is finally booked for UFC 308 where he would face Whittaker in the main event. UFC 308 will take place on October 26th at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
