Daniel Cormier, UFC commentator and former two-division champion, has nothing but praise for surging welterweight contender Khamzat Chimaev. DC told MMAFighting.com that Khamzat is the “scariest contender we’ve seen for a while”, and that anyone in the top ten of the welterweight division is fair game.
“I think he’s the scariest contender we have seen for a while. Look, the odds may seem high — but when you look at these guys, you’ve got to ask yourself, ‘Do you believe [Chimaev] wins?’
DC: Khamzat is “Scariest Contender we have seen for a while”
Maybe he doesn’t dominate, but at the end of it, do you think he wins the fight against Gilbert Burns? When you’re asking yourself that and you say ‘I think so,’ it doesn’t matter if the odds are -100, if its even — it’s still just saying they believe he’s going to win.
They make it so you have to risk so much in order to make anything on him. But if you think he’s going to win that fight, which a lot of people do, then the odds don’t really matter. I do believe he’s the [scariest] contender we’ve had for a while.”
Khamzat Chimaev is an undefeated fighter with a 10-0 record. All ten of his wins came via stoppage. That’s enough to make Chimaev a serious betting favorite ahead of his appearance at UFC 273. Is it enough to, eventually, dethrone the pound-for-pound king and reigning welterweight champ Kamaru Usman?
“To say anyone will knock off Kamaru Usman is a lot, but if there’s a guy that seems to be a challenge, it seems to be this guy.
I can only imagine what the odds would look like if it was Chimaev-Usman. I would love to see the odds when Usman and Burns opened up, because I can’t imagine it was as high as this is. I think that speaks to the dominance that Chimaev has put on paper to this point. It’s big shoes. It’s a lot of hype to live up. The dude seems to have the goods.
As the fights get tougher, we’ll see, but what he did to Li Jingliang was ridiculous. Then I go into the interview [after the fight] and I say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Khamzat Chimaev,’ and he goes, ‘Brother, of course you are [speaking to me] — what was the option? It was going to be me. It was never going to be Li.’ It was tremendous.
He’s got the swagger, he’s got the fighting ability. I’m a fan. I’m a massive fan of Khamzat.” Do you think Khamzat will be the one to take Usman’s belt? Let us know in the comments.
