Khamzat Chimaev looked scary as he just destroyed the heavy bag one handedly. The rising Chechen fighter is about to face Number 3 ranked Welterweight, Leon Edwards on March 13. The bout was cancelled twice, will third time be the charm?
There is no doubt that Khamzat Chimaev is being fast tracked in the rankings as he just made his debut last year and now he is scheduled to face the number 3 ranked fighter in the division. His last fight was also a middleweight bout, was still ranked in the welterweight. He is special but does he deserve to leapfrog over welterweight contenders like Stephen Thompson, Michael Chiesa and many others?
It also worth noting that Chimaev is training with UFC big names like Alexander Gustaffson and Ilir Latifi. He is used to fighting the bigger and stronger guys, and even outwrestle them so a move to middleweight might be inevitable. He claims he will be the champion by the end of the year, after he smashes Edwards, he will then proceed to fight Usman for the belt.
Chimaev has been compared to Khabib due to their russian descent and similar style of fighting but Chimaev proved that he has more than grappling by knocking out Gerald Meerschaert with one punch. So there is no doubt that he is no Khabib but has knockout power. Although his grappling has yet to be tested with high level opponents like Leon Edwards.
