Khamzat Chimaev is coming off the biggest win of his young career; however, his coach thinks it was a messy win.
It was messy
On Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, Andreas Michael talked about his fighter’s performance. When asked if he thought Chimaev won, he said it was a clear win.
“I don’t think absolutely not that like that we lost the fight. That was like a clear win for us. Absolutely. But, it was messy,” Michael said.
Game plan was out the window
Chimaev’s win over Gilbert Burns was huge; however, his coach said it was messy because he did not stick to the game plan.
“The plan was to just box him. Keep the jab going because that’s the way to handle that situation. He did absolutely everything we didn’t work on and he just wanted to show the people, ‘Listen, I’m here, I’m gonna walk through this guy.’ But there’s a reason these guys are there,” Michael said. “The No. 2, No. 1, champions, they’re there because they’re fu*king tough. They’re some tough dudes, respect to them. So if you understand that and that comes with experience, if you understand that then you have the patience to handle that situation and that will make you maybe finish him in one or two rounds, but you need that patience and that patience comes with experience. Remember, Khamzat has nearly never gone past the first round.” h/t MMA Fighting.
When Chimaev didn’t finish Burns in the first round as he did in all of his other wins, the fans started saying he was overrated and is all hype. Michael compared it to when Mike Tyson finally went to a decision.
“It’s like Tyson the first time he went 12 rounds, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, he got exposed.’ What did they say about Khabib, when he fought against Tibau? These are great, great fighters, but it’s how you handle adversity that shows that you’re a great fighter. And not every performance can be spectacular,” Michael said.
“He’s a work in progress. A lot of people are talking a lot of shit, talking out of their asses, you know? You can’t make everyone happy. If he knocked the guy out in two seconds, they would have said, ‘But his conditioning.’ ‘He doesn’t have heart.’ ‘He has to be tested.’ ‘He has to be this.’ So you can’t make everyone happy.”
While he didn’t finish Burns at UFC 273, Chimaev still beat the No. 2 guy in the division. Something that is wild, especially because he only had four UFC fights prior.
Next up is Colby Covington. Well, if all things go to plan. Dana White wants that fight to happen when the UFC returns to ABC later this year.
