Some critics have suggested recently that Khamzat Chimaev is being over-hyped due to having faced a less than stellar level of competition in the UFC so far, and now the star himself has had a chance to respond.
““Who (went) in the cage: 10 fights, 10 finishes?” Chimaev said on a BlockAsset video. “The guys tell like, ‘Oh, he didn’t fight this guy, he didn’t fight that guy,’ but the guys who’s the best guys – Jon Jones, his first four fights in UFC, he get the punch. I didn’t get the punch. We don’t say, his first fights, he didn’t get the best ones – the guys, you know, like, super good guys. Nobody. Conor (McGregor) didn’t get that, crazy good guys in his first fights. Nobody. Khabib (Nurmagomedov) didn’t get crazy good guys. I just need the time.”
Chimaev has so far defeated John Phillips, Rhys McKee, Gerald Meerschaert and most recently Li Jingliang during his UFC run, and essentially ran through all four of them, claiming two finishes via strikes and two by submission along the way, with only Phillips making it out of the first round.
Chimaev will now have a perfect opportunity to shut down his detractors next time out when he’ll go up against the No.2 ranked former welterweight title contender Gilbert Burns at UFC 273 on April 9th in Jacksonville, Florida.
