UFC light heavyweight Anthony Smith has endured his own share of weight cutting issues, and he has some advice for the similarly plagued welterweight Khamzat Chimaev. In a recent episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer, Smith said that Chimaev “should go to middleweight”, pointing out that the undefeated Chechen fighter could fare remarkably well at 185 pounds.
“Honestly, I think he should go to middleweight. Because he’s only getting older. He’s still a pretty young guy. He’s only going to continue to get bigger, and by taking that off of his plate, he could grow technically and athletically so much faster without having to suck his body [down].
Smith: Chimaev Could Beat Adesanya
What happens is you start to train, you get in these camps and you’re training all the time and your body wants to grow. It wants to be healthy. It takes more to fuel it. Your body wants to adapt to what it’s doing. If you’re also sucking yourself down and stopping that process, you’re just hurting yourself.”
Smith continued, citing a wrestling match that saw Chimaev ragdoll UFC middleweight Jack Hermansson. “Did you see the wrestling match between Chimaev and Jack Hermansson?
Did you see the size of that goddamn guy? Jack Hermansson is not a small middleweight and [Chimaev] was significantly larger. I would suspect that his entire training camp is focused on getting his weight down. That’s unfortunate.”
Specifically, the UFC middleweight division could feature some “big fight” for Chimaev, including a potential title matchup against middleweight champ Israel Adesanya, one of the biggest stars in the sport. Israel Adesanya has never lost a fight at middleweight, and will face lethal striker Alex Pereira next month. Chimaev, he says, could fare very well against both fighter thanks to his astonishing wrestling prowess.
“I think there’s bigger fights at 185 for him. I think his name value means more at 185 right now. There’s crazy superstars at 170 — 185 could use a couple. I think there’s some great matchups up there for him. Just broadly, if I was Mr. Chimaev, I would probably stay at middleweight.
It’s not crazy [to think Chimaev beats Adesanya]. Now would he? I don’t know, you’ve got to dig a little deeper. But could he? For sure. He definitely could beat Alex.”
Do you agree with Anthony Smith? Let us know in the comments if you want to see middleweight Chimaev gunning for the title.
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