Henry Cejudo believes Khamzat Chimaev is the man to beat Israel Adesanya.
Henry Cejudo didn’t have much to say about Israel Adesanya’s decision win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 but, judging from a recent Tweet, ‘Triple C’ wasn’t too impressed with what he saw.
His main takeaway from the fight? ‘The Last Sylebender’ loses to Khamzat Chimaev. Badly.
“From what I’ve heard from a lot of people is that this dude literally trains like nobody has ever seen before.” Cejudo told The Schmo in a recent interview. “When you’re a wrestler and you’re like that — and he’s driven. Man, I could see him easily beating Israel Adesanya.”
I don’t even gamble, but if I was a betting man, @KChimaev is the man that will stop Israel Adesanya.
If @stylebender could beat him I will shut up, I will apologize. But if that fight ever happens, I got Khamzat. He’s a whole other animal.
FULL EPISODE: https://t.co/D0EUVsTqM5 pic.twitter.com/EETqdO0H3Z
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) February 14, 2022
“I don’t even gamble, but if I was a betting man, @KChimaev is the man that will stop Israel Adesanya. If @stylebender could beat him I will shut up, I will apologize. But if that fight ever happens, I got Khamzat. He’s a whole other animal.”
Chimaev (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) is one of the hottest prospects in the UFC right now, but the Allstar Training Center product is unproven against top-level talent. That could all change on April 9, however, when ‘Borz’ is slated to take on former title challenger and No. 2-ranked welterweight Gilbert Burns in a welterweight contest at UFC 273. Both men have verbally agreed to the matchup on social media, but the bout has yet to be made official.
As for Adesanya, the 32-year-old all but cleared out the middleweight division with his win over Whittaker at the weekend. The reigning champ is currently #3 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings and is considered by many to be one of the greatest middleweight champions of all time.