Chimaev On Khabib: He’s #1 Now, But I Will Be #1 Soon

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Khamzat Chimaev is setting his sights right to the very top of the sport. Two division champ? Three division champ? P4P #1? All goals Chimaev intends to reach.

One month ago only the hardcores knew Khamzat Chimaev’s name. Now he ends the month of July 2020 the undisputed king of Fight Island, having fought twice there in a ten day span, smashing both his opponents.

The first saw him pull a 10-7 round on one judge’s scorecard (the fight didn’t go to decision, but ended in the second via submission). The second on Saturday night at UFC on ESPN 14 saw him finish Rhys McKee in the first via TKO. McKee didn’t manage to register a single shot landed.

During his post-fight interview Chimaev was cocky as ever, declaring himself a future two weight division champion. At the post-event press conference he shared even more of his confidence with the press.

“Of course it easy for me,” he said when asked if the sport was too easy for him. “I born from this country when I was kid, it was war in my country. Everyone know Chechnya, like before how they was. I like to fight in the cage, and smash someone, it’s too easy. Too easy. Smash someone. Get money, brother. It’s perfect for me.”

He also responded to all the comparisons to Khabib Nurmagomedov, including the amusing nickname “Khabib” (since Chimaev is a large 170 pounder to Khabib’s 155).

“I like this guy, this guy is, I think I don’t know, pound for pound number one?” Chimaev said. “Yeah, I think he’s pound for pound number one. He’s 28 wins? Yeah. But soon … I’m going to be pound for pound number one. I’m gonna be champion. I have eight fights, eight finishes. I destroyed everybody. I’m going to do this. Next fight also.”

As for how long he saw himself taking to get to the belt, Chimaev simply sounded confident that it would happen when it happened. It is inevitable, as far as he’s concerned.

“For me it doesn’t matter,” he replied. “I don’t know, but I want to take this belt in one, two years? As soon as possible I’m going to take this. I know it’s not like movie, like Rocky Balboa. Like he want to fight and get the title shot. I’m going to take this soon.”

While news coming out of UFC Fight Island 3 seemed to point towards another quick turnaround, Chimaev admitted his team was pushing him to take a break.

“They tell me take it easy,” he said. “I did eight months hard work, now I do two fights, ten days, and I destroy these two guys. They say you have to take relax, easy. I didn’t see my mom in five months, but we live in same country, in different city. I want to be with my mom to go to shop, something, get my mom present. One month and I’ll be back to hard work and smash somebody.”

And while we’ve gotten a good look at his deadly ground game, Chimaev says that’s actually not even his primary weapon.

“I didn’t show my boxing,” he said. “I have very good boxing. Maybe you see my knockouts? My first fights I only did striking. Sometimes my coach say take him down and smash him, I have to do this, I listen to my coach. If coach say knock him out, I’m going to knock him out.”

Now lest you think he’s all pure braggadocio and egomania, he finished the conference up with a pretty humble answer regarding what he’d spend his bonus on should he win one (spoiler: he did).

“To help somebody,” he said. “I do this not only for me. I do this for everybody I can help. I don’t want to be like Mayweather, like McGregor, be one of the guys to show my money, show my cars like something like that. I want to help the people.”