Khamzat Chimaev was supposed to be the next big thing at 170 pounds.
Unfortunately, “Borz” struggled to maintain his weight, nearly retired after a long battle with COVID, and looked beatable in decision victories over Gilbert Burns (UFC 273) and Kamaru Usman (UFC 294). That has former UFC lightweight, Josh Thomson, wondering if Chimaev will bounce back and chase gold like Charles Oliveira.
Or fizzle out and fade away like Melvin Guillard.
“I’m not — I said this the last time I saw him fight — I’m not sold on him yet. I’m not sold on Khamzat Chimaev,” Thomson said on his “Weighing In” podcast. “Everyone’s like ‘you’re stupid, you’re being a hater,’ I’m like no, I don’t care what you guys say. I’ve been in the fight game a long, long time. Fighters come, fighters go. They explode into the scene and guess what? Then they linger around for a little bit hoping to get back on track and some of them never do and some have a resurgence.”
The promotion’s latest excuse for Chimaev’s UFC absence is “personal stuff.”
“Charles Oliveira is one of the guys that had a resurgence,” Thomson continued. “A lot of guys before in the past never did. Melvin Guillard never did. He came on like fireworks and then just kind of fizzled out and faded away and I don’t even know where he’s at now. You know what I mean? That’s no knock on him, that happens to a lot of fighters, I’m just using him as an example. Khamzat Chimaev, I don’t think that’s gonna happen to him, he’s got great wrestling — but he doesn’t have the wrestling of Bo Nickal.”
Chimaev, 29, is currently ranked No. 9 at 185 pounds and stands at 13-0 in his pro career with 11 finishes. The promotion is hoping to get “Borz” onto the UFC 300 fight card in April; however, nothing is confirmed at this time.