“I think no matter what, he has a hard time with Colby Covington, and [Kamaru Usman].
UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping is going all-in on Khamzat Chimaev following the latter’s vicious first-round stoppage victory over Li Jingliang at UFC 267, but Josh Thomson isn’t sure how ‘Borz’ stacks up against the welterweight elite.
Thomson, who co-hosts a podcast alongside John McCarthy, thinks 10-0 Chimaev would have a hard time against Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman and is curious to see how the Chechyan-Swedish fighter would fare in a five-round fight against ‘Chaos’.
“I think no matter what, he has a hard time with Colby Covington, and [Kamaru Usman],” retired UFC veteran Thomson said (h/t Sportskeeda). “I think Covington may just press the pace, because I haven’t seen [Khamzat] for more than three rounds. So I don’t know how he’ll do in a five-round fight!”
McCarthy believes Chimaev would also have trouble against No. 2-ranked UFC welterweight Gilbert Burns but is super impressed with what he has seen from the Swede so far.
“He does [have better stand-up than Burns], and he’s way longer,” McCarthy said of Chimaev. “I think they’re close, they both have power. I think [Chimaev] is longer and Gilbert will have to be reaching to get to him. Gilbert is not going to be able to just take him down. He’ll have to hit him with a shot first… Chimaev is gonna get that takedown, because he’s fast. And speed changes the equation quickly… Right now, at his age, with the skillset he possesses, he’s good!”
There’s no telling how Chimaev stacks up against the top-five but the dual-division fighter has promised to ‘kill’ everybody in UFC. He is currently one of the most highly-touted welterweight and middleweight prospects in the promotion.