Khamzat Chimaev put on an utterly dominant display of wrestling to win at UFC 319.
Dricus du Plessis was mauled for five rounds during his middleweight title defeat on Saturday night.
Still, the new 185lb king has faced some criticism for his ‘boring’ game plan, which never looked like forcing a finish at UFC 319.
Kamaru Usman insists the only reason Khamzat Chimaev didn’t stop ‘DDP’ is because he didn’t want to.
Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLCReal reason Khamzat Chimaev didn’t stop Dricus du Plessis
Kamaru Usman pushed Khamzat Chimaev to the brink of defeat when they fought in October 2023.
The 15-0 Russian emerged from their UFC 294 co-main event with a razor-thin majority decision win.
One of MMA’s greatest-ever welterweights shared his unique take on UFC 319 on Monday morning.
As far as he’s concerned, Chimaev didn’t take out Du Plessis because he wanted to reserve energy.
“Khamzat Chimaev possesses this one skill that can make you look like a middle school wrestler,” Usman said on the Pound4Pound podcast he shares with Henry Cejudo.
“Khamzat made a lot of mistakes that I think would have got him that finish before that third round.
“You know, he got to a position where it was so easy, it was almost him controlling himself. He had to control his own emotions. He had to control his gas tank.
“That’s not easy to dominate a guy like that. Everything is working. In your mind, you are wanting resistance. Resistance is how you gauge how much output to put out. If everything is going right, you can’t gauge how much output to put out.
“Maybe you might try finish it in that first round, you get up in the second like, ‘Whoa, I can’t even lift my arms. Why am I so tired?’ Khamzat did a phenomenal job because he had so much success with this.”
Khamzat Chimaev’s next fight
There is no obvious number one contender for Khamzat Chimaev to defend his belt against.
However, he is still hoping to return to the Octagon when the UFC heads to Abu Dhabi later this year.
Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane will headline at the Etihad Arena on October 26. The co-main event slot is wide open for Chimaev, whose next opponent will most likely be one of four 185lb fighters.
Nassourdine Imavov propelled himself into title contention by knocking out Israel Adesanya earlier this year.
He’ll square off against UFC 319 back-up fighter Caio Borralho in the main event of UFC Paris on September 13.
The winner of that fight will probably be the frontrunner to face Chimaev, if they are fit and ready for a quick turnaround.
Reinier de Ridder and Anthony Hernandez are the other two options. They are currently unmatched after their recent wins over Robert Whittaker and Roman Dolidze.