UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya isn’t concerned about Khamzat “Borz” Chimaev’s entrance in the 185-pound division. Chimaev steamrolled his way through the 170-pound welterweight division, and made a point of calling out Adesanya on the way.
“The Last Stylebender” is more concerned with a fresh grudge against middleweight contender Dricus Du Plessis, explaining his logic in a recent appearance on Impaulsive.
UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya Has “Bigger Fish to Fry” Than Khamzat Chimaev
“Trust me, I’m not scared of nobody on this f***** planet. No one. And also, guess what, I like a challenge. [Chimaev] presents something unique… I’ve seen wrestlers before. It’s a big fight.
That’s why I like that. Cheddar makes it better. But he’s got Kamaru [Usman] and after that is probably gonna go for the title..
I’ve got bigger fish to fry. I’m gonna be there in July [for UFC 290] and I’mma see what’s up. Not with Rob, with Du Plessis.”
Chimaev’s surge through the UFC began in 2020, at Fight Island, but has stalled in recent months. This is largely due to a whopping 7.5 pound weight miss last September, which saw him miss the chance to fight Nate Diaz. The miss disrupted his momentum, but even then, Chimaev remains focused on dethroning Israel Adesanya.
“He said some s*** in the past. He always tweets after my fights anyway but I don’t respond to nonsense. Everyone does. I’m the champ. Even when Pereira took the belt, I was still the champ.
I wasn’t the UFC champion, but they still called me champ on the streets because I’m me. I’m Israel Adesanya. I have that name, that target on my back no matter what and I said that even leading up to this last fight.
People were like, ‘Ah, do you feel the pressure has been taken off you now that you’ve lost the belt?’ I was like, nah. I’m still Israel Adesanya. I’m still ‘The Last Stylebender.’
They want to fight me because I’m one of the greatest in this game right now, and they want to have me on their mantle piece or that name like, ‘Yeah, I beat him’ or ‘I fought him.’”
In the meantime, a bout for Chimaev against former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman seems all but confirmed. Usman was dethroned by Leon Edwards and lost the immediate rematch, and may well act as the gatekeeper for Chimaev’s tilt at 170-pound gold.
Whether Chimaev, whose high-pressure wrestling has smothered all opposition thus far, can make his game plan work against Kamaru Usman, whose own wrestling earned him five successful UFC title defenses, remains to be seen.
