Khamzat Chimaev scored two finishes in just 10 days. To make things sweeter, both fights were on the promotion’s heavily marketed Fight Island. Continuing the trend, Chimaev extended his resume with an additional fight last night. As well as a KO finish, in which he took zero damage. The results of his contests resembled Khabib. However, his thunderous one-punch KO of Gerald Meerschaert in just 17 seconds at UFC Vegas 11 shocked the world once more. Looking for a step up in competition, Khamzat believes that he would finish Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman as well as current Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.
Continuing to Impress
Chimaev continues to impress throughout the course of his young career. In just three fights, Khamzat has 196 strikes landed, 3 finishes, and has only been struck twice. Fans of the sport wondered if Chimaev was a legitimate contender, or if he was a hype train that the sport always seems to find. Before anyone could make up their mind, a lighting strike of a right hand sent Gerald Meerschaert to the canvas.
Khamzat on Fighting Usman or Adesanya
After the fight, Khamzat spoke to the media about the next steps of his career. While he’s rumored to take on Demian Maia, he spoke about Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya.
“Of course! Why not?” said Khamzat in response to facing the pair of champions. “I did hard work for that. I’m ready. Both divisions.”
“If I do my hard work, nobody’s a challenge for me,” he stated, with a smile. “I’m going to stop both guys.”
Khamzat said during post-fight press conference that at the end of the day it’s all about business inside the Octagon with Gerald Meerschaert .
He also rejects that people are labeling him as Khabib 2, and said last night’s lightening fast win prove to people that he can knock out people.
“Everybody say ‘You Khabib, Khabib No. 2,’ something like that,” Chimaev said. “But I am Khamzat . I can knock out people. Like, submit the people. Smash the people. Everything. I have everything.”
