Khamzat Chimaev’s assault up the UFC ladder continues.
The 28-year-old smashing machine may not have endeared himself to the MMA populace with his unprofessional antics around UFC 279, but it’s impossible to deny the violence the man is capable of once he steps foot inside a cage. Chimaev pitched yet another perfect game in his short-notice rout of Kevin Holland this past Saturday, and after his latest blowout win, the numbers are starting to add up to paint a frightening picture.
To quote my own post-fight column:
His effortless two-minute submission marked the fourth time in Chimaev’s UFC career in which he won without getting hit by a single significant strike. In fact, Holland didn’t do anything at all. That’s not an exaggeration. Look at the FightMetric stats: Zero attempted strikes, zero attempted takedowns, zero control time. Nada. Totally blanked. Remove the Gilbert Burns brawl from the equation and Chimaev has now been hit with just one — I repeat, ONE (1) — significant strike in his five other UFC wins. All of this is absurd no matter how you slice it.
But what does Chimaev’s performance mean in the grand scheme of the welterweight division?
“Borz” may have badly botched his weight cut for UFC 279, but his past successes at 170 pounds and the flawless nature of the Holland win were enough to propel him into rarefied air in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings: Sitting at No. 3, Chimaev has now vaulted over Colby Covington as the highest-ranking welterweight in the world aside from the title duo of new UFC champion Leon Edwards and former champ Kamaru Usman.
Do you agree with Chimaev’s ranking in the division? Should he have been above Covington all along? Or should “Chaos” still be ahead on the strength of his performances against Usman?
Vote in the poll and leave a comment below.
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