Big things have been expected from Khamzat Chimaev since he first burst onto the UFC scene with a run of fast finishes, but while he remains undefeated, his lengthy spells on the sidelines due to illness and less dominant performances in more recent times now have Daniel Cormier wondering whether he’ll ever reach his full potential in the Octagon.
“I always wonder if a guy can ride too hot when they first start,” Cormier said on “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Chael Sonnen. “Can you fly too close to the sun?
“Because when Khamzat Chimaev started right, he was on Fight Island, he fought twice in one week, looked amazing, went to the Apex, knocked out Gerald Meerschaert. He was so hot that everybody just thought he was going to be the greatest fighter, he can finish anyone, he was doing his thing at a level that I don’t know is even sustainable.
“And then he goes in there with Kamaru Usman, who is a former champion. And for him to win at this stage in his career is a massive accomplishment, even though Usman took the fight on short notice. But, it felt like because of the decision, after what he did to Li Jingliang, how he picked him up and slammed him and was talking to Dana the whole time, it seemed like in that victory, he lost a little bit of the lore that he had built around himself.
“So then it leads me to this, did he fly too hot, was he too close to the sun, and now, it’ll be very difficult for him to reach the level of superstardom that we all expected from Khamzat Chimaev.”
