“To say that somebody expected that, there’s no f****** way people expected that. I didn’t expect that.”
Khamzat Chimaev might be the best raw talent the UFC has seen since Jon Jones.
The undefeated Chechnan extended his UFC winning streak to 6-0 (12-0 MMA) with a flawless victory over Kevin Holland in Saturday’s UFC 279 co-main event, submitting ‘Trailblazer’ with a D’Arce choke at 2:13 of the first round.
UFC president Dana White was blown away by Khamzat’s performance and hailed The Allstar Training Center standout ‘a f-cking freak of nature’ for making Holland, a sixteen-fight UFC veteran, look like he didn’t belong in the cage with him.
“I don’t know if anybody expected him to do exactly what he did,” White told reporters at the UFC 279 post-fight press conference (h/t MMA Fighting). “You don’t know what to expect from that guy. This is like his fourth fight that he’s never even taken a punch.
“He’s an absolute f****** freak of nature, and I don’t think anybody expected that, especially against Kevin, who’s 6-foot-2. To say that somebody expected that, there’s no f****** way people expected that. I didn’t expect that.”
As impressive as Khamzat looked on Saturday, many are still disappointed he missed weight against Nate Diaz. After hitting the scales at 178.5 pounds, a full 7.5 pounds over the welterweight limit, White thinks it ‘makes sense’ for Chimaev to move up to middleweight, although options may still be available for him at welterweight.
“It’s a problem,” White said. “That’s a problem that he missed weight. I don’t know. We’ve got to look at it and figure it out. What makes sense is for him to fight at [185 pounds], so we’ll see. “It is what it is. It happened. We’ll go back this week and come up with a plan and probably have him fight at [185].”
“After he just didn’t make weight, I don’t know,” White added. “There’s a lot of possibilities for him. Possibly at 170 or at 185.”
Khamzat fought Holland at a catchweight of 180 pounds and has made it clear that he plans on winning not one but two UFC titles. As of writing, he is #3 in the UFC welterweight rankings.
