UFC commentator Michael Bisping had nothing but praise for Khamzat Chimaev after his performance at UFC 273. Chimaev, ranked #11 UFC welterweight before the fight, defeated the #2 contender, Gilbert Burns, via decision in his toughest fight yet. With Dana White already hinting that Khamzat’s next opponent is likely the #1 ranked contender Colby Covington, Bisping told his YouTube channel that he’s backing the Swede.
“I’d probably lean towards Khamzat, which again sounds crazy, but I think the wrestling of Khamzat would nullify for sure Colby’s wrestling.
Bisping Backs Khamzat over Colby: “he’s got all the ingredients”
So if you take the wrestling out of it, then we’re gonna go to striking. Khamzat has more power, Colby has more output, and that’s what it comes down to. I think Colby would have a gas tank advantage, conditioning goes to Colby. Experience as well, so there’s some stuff there. But wrestling and power goes to Khamzat. So we’ll see.”
Colby Covington’s fighting style is built almost entirely from his high-pressure wrestling. Covington’s legendary cardio has seen him deliver phenomenal performances in later rounds, most notably when he took on welterweight king Kamaru Usman not once but twice.
Gilbert Burns, of course, is also an elite grappler, with three gold medals to his name. After Khamzat’s own wrestling earned him a win over Burns, and Chimaev was able to face adversity after simply walking through all other opponents in his 10-0 career, Michael Bisping says he will only get better.
“Here’s what Khazmat proved: he can be the hammer and the nail. It’s all good going out there and destroying your opposition.
Everybody loves that, everybody wants to see that, everybody wants to do that, but the question still remains, ‘Can he take a kicking and keep on ticking?’
Well now we know he can. Some people, when they start hitting adversity, they wilt and they look for a way out, but Khamzat Chimaev isn’t that guy. Khamzat definitely showed last night he can be a hammer and a nail, so he’s got all the ingredients.”
Chimaev himself admitted that he had underestimated Burns going into the fight, and won’t be making that mistake again in a hurry. With a Chimaev vs Covington fight likely to set up a title challenge for the winner, the surging Swede would do well to learn from the experience and improve for one of the toughest fighters on the planet.
Do you think Khamzat can take Colby Covington out? Let us know in the comments.
