Khamzat Chimaev of Chechnya celebrates after his knockout victory over Gerald Meerschaert in their middleweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on September 19, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Khamzat Chimaev has made a huge mark in the UFC and is undefeated in his career
UFC legend Chael Sonnen has been a vocal supporter of Khamzat Chimaev since the Swede made his splash in the promotion and had some more glowing praise for the 26-year-old.
The Swede is 9-0 in his pro MMA career and has won all three of his UFC fights in excellent fashion.
Chimaev last defeated Gerald Meerschaert via a 17-second knockout and was to face Leon Edwards in December this year.
However, that fight had to be postponed after both tested positive for Covid-19. Chimaev is still one of the big talking points in the UFC in 2020 and that got Sonnen talking:
Sonnen was speaking about how Chimaev might have skirted a couple of fighters to get a big name in the UFC.
The Swede had made such allegations against Stephen Thompson but Sonnen wasn’t going to believe that Wonderboy would ever put down a fight.
However, the UFC legend still hailed Chimaev’s abilities and claimed he was close to Brock Lesnar and Conor McGregor in terms of a rise in the promotion:
“Chimaev is the fastest rising star of 2020, absolutely meteoric.
“Amongst the three fastest to rise in industry history. Brock Lesnar came in and could do a main event right out of the gate, could sell out an arena right out of the gate.
“Then, Conor McGregor, who had two fights before he was main eventing and selling out arenas. But those are unicorns and then you have Chimaev, who has had three fights, none of which were main events.
“Fourth fight, main event, and you win, you are likely fighting for the title based on how you look in the win. It is one of these rare things.”
Chimaev certainly has made a huge mark in the UFC and it will be interesting to see if he reaches the same levels as McGregor and Lesnar.
Both won titles in the UFC while Khamzat should get a title shot if he wins his next fight. Sonnen also claimed that Chimaev was in his list of best fighters of the year and ranked him third behind Deiveson Figueiredo and Stipe Miocic.
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