Vicente Luque is more than down to fight Khamzat Chimaev next.
Chimaev is coming off a dominant first-round submission win over Li Jingliang in October. The nature of the victory reignited the hype train of “Borz” who hadn’t competed in over a year due to lingering COVID-19 issues.
As one would expect, Chimaev went back to calling fighters out with many believing he just requires one more win over a top contender to get a shot at Kamaru Usman’s welterweight title.
One name Chimaev has failed to call out, however, is Luque’s. Whether that’s out of fear or just a coincidence remains to be seen, but if Chimaev does call for a fight, the Brazilian is more than willing to sign a contract.
“I definitely get the hype behind it,” Luque said of Chimaev in a recent interview. “He looks great in fights, he looks like a really strong guy. He goes out there and finishes every fight. So I get the hype, I get why the UFC wants to put him in big fights. A lot of people ask me about this fight and I’m here. If he mentions my name – because I haven’t heard him say my name – if he says my name and the UFC sends me the contract, I’ll sign that contract. That’s simple for me.
“But he didn’t mention my name. I think he said, ‘anybody at the top.’ Well, when someone mentions my name and he goes and asks for this fight, I’m going to do it for sure. I think it’s a great fight, it’s an exciting fight. He’s a beast. He goes in there and tries to finish the guy every second. Not very different from what I do. It would be a great fight for sure. If he wants it, if he lets the UFC know and they let me know, we’ll do it.”
Vicente Luque: It Has To Be A Five-Rounder
Chimaev is yet to compete beyond the second round in his four UFC fights so far.
That is one of the reasons some observers are not completely sold on him as they are yet to see how he fares in the championship rounds. And as far as Luque is concerned, any fight with Chimaev would have to be a five-round main event.
“I think that fight — if it happens — it has to be five rounds, it has to be a main event,” Luque added. “It’s a big fight, it has to be a big show. It has to be a five-rounder. It would only make sense.”
It definitely makes sense and given that a fight with Nate Diaz is seemingly off for Luque, Chimaev is probably the most suitable option for him as well as the latter.
You can watch the full interview below:
