Khamzat Chimaev is a purple belt in BJJ. He’s been recently spotted working on his gi game in one of his vlogs.
While UFC fans are clamoring for the Swede to come back into the octagon, he seems to be in some sort of a negotiations war with the UFC.
Chimaev last competed at UFC 279, after missing weight by 8 pounds making the UFC reluctant to book him at welterweight. He’s rumored to be facing Kamaru Usman in Abu Dhabi in October. This was not announced but was leaked by Adin Ross who has contacts in both Dana White’s camp and Chimaev’s.
Prior to UFC 279, Chimaev faced Gilbert Burns and was really adamant to not engage him on the ground.
Khamzat Chimaev previously challenged Francis Ngannou to a grappling match outside of the UFC.
Chimaev is about 100 pounds lighter than Ngannou.
Chimaev’s training in Thailand has impressed many, with videos showcasing his grappling skills.
Chimaev previously displayed his wrestling capabilities by defeating Jack Hermansson in a wrestling tournament in Sweden.
Chimaev’s coach Alan Finfou previously set him out on a mission to expose fake black belts. There’s a big discrepancy in the level required to get a BJJ black belt across different teams and even teams in the same city.
Alan Finfou has said that he’s “making Khamzat expose all the fake black belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu that are in the MMA scenario.” And went on to compare the process of getting promoted to McDonalds.
Meanwhile Islam Makhachev shaded Gaethje and Poirier over their respective submission losses.
“And we have to cancel many black belts [because] they make Jiu-Jitsu look bad. Because a lot of guys have black belt but I don’t know [if they have the skills].”
Volkanovski’s BJJ cornerman, Craig Jones, also agrees with the estimate as per calfkicker:
“I honestly agree with what Makhachev says, a lot of people deserve to have that black belt taken away.”
He seems to be aware that Gordon Ryan is looking at an array of health issues and has slimmed down considerably.
