UFC welterweight Khamzat Chimaev is far from amused at the recent footage of him training at the renowned Tiger Muay Thai gym in Phuket, Thailand.
Having risen to prominence in the UFC with four dominant first-round finishes, including a submission victory over ranked welterweight Li Jingliang at UFC 267 last October, Chimaev is looking to contend for gold on MMA’s biggest stage soon.
With that in mind, he’s continuing his pursuit of development and growth by training with some of the best in the game.
Ahead of his first challenge of 2022, “Borz” has been training alongside the likes of UFC lightweight Rafael Fiziev, interim bantamweight titleholder Petr Yan, 135-pound contender Marlon Moraes, Bellator Welterweight Champion Yaroslav Amosov, and ONE Championship kickboxers Chingiz Allazov and Roman Kryklia.
He’s certainly not short of talented sparring partners during his time in Asia…
Khamzat Chimaev, Rafael Fiziev, and Petr Yan sharpening the tools in Thailand
How many future undisputed champions in this picture?
pic.twitter.com/2MmA6VJYXj
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) January 24, 2022
Chimaev Discusses The Biggest “Mess” At Tiger Muay Thai
While he’s working with some of the best MMA and Muay Thai coaches in the game during his stint in Thailand, the experience isn’t all positive for Chimaev. During a recent interview with RT Sport MMA, the #11-ranked UFC welterweight discussed the biggest issue at Tiger Muay Thai: the cameras.
“It’s hard to keep any secrets here, everybody has a camera,” said Chimaev. “Every time I am doing pad work or rolling, everyone around starts filming. Kind of a mess here in the gym. I don’t get it.”
While the host of professionals developing their trade at the gym is often publicized, Chimaev suggested the number of amateur fighters significantly outweighs the pros. With that, the Chechen-born Swede says, comes an incessant amount of filming, something the gym doesn’t restrict.
“The thing is, there are much more amateur fighters around than pro fighters. They keep filming all the time,” added Chimaev. “They don’t understand that it’s a bad idea to film sparring sessions and post them. They don’t have any strict rules about filming. No such rules. It’s probably good for the gym. People make videos, post them on social media, and the gym becomes popular.
“But as for our gym (Allstar Training Center), you can’t film there,” Chimaev continued. “We have a lot of videos from our gym, but nobody has ever posted them during the four years I have trained there. Here, nobody cares about it. I am busy with training, so I can’t take care of all those cameras around. It’s not good.”
Describing just how bad the level of recording is at Tiger Muay Thai, Chimaev joked that he could drop a glove and a video of it would end up online. “Borz” suggested gyms must control filming in order to prevent out-worked sparring partners getting upset at leaked footage.
“If I outwrestle a guy, he won’t be happy to see that footage online. I am a famous person. I may even drop a glove on the floor or jump; they post it right away, ‘Look, Khamzat Chimaev is jumping!’ When they tag me on Instagram, I see it all. Some guys who are on my level may get upset after all those videos get posted. Some guys are more skilful than others, so you have to control the cameras to not let your friends get upset,” concluded Chimaev. (Translated by RT Sport)
Perhaps a prime example of the footage Chimaev is referring to came in the form of a recent video that showed him dropping a sparring partner with a vicious body shot. Seemingly to keep his development and progress close to his chest, and protect his training partners, Chimaev believes foootage such as that should remain private.
One man who may be keeping a close eye on Chimaev’s progression at Tiger Muay Thai and any leaked footage is top-five contender Gilbert Burns. While nothing is confirmed, “Durinho” appears set to be the next man in the way of Chimaev’s rapid rise to the top.
Given the above video, it appears Burns would do well to avoid too many shots to the body…
Do you agree with Khamzat Chimaev? Should gyms control filming and prevent training leaks?
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