A former UFC star was left feeling underwhelmed after Khamzat Chimaev’s dominant middleweight title win.
The Chechen did not lose a single round to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319, picking up the biggest victory of his career to become the UFC’s top middleweight.
Du Plessis praised a deserving Khamzat after the bout, but seemed disappointed not to have been able to stamp his authority at any point in the fight.
Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC
Following the win, Chimaev is now looking to become more active, after the Chicago main event broke his ten-month inactivity streak.
Ex-UFC star on Khamzat Chimaev’s ‘frustrating’ dominant performance at UFC 319 against Dricus Du Plessis
However, a UFC legend blasted fans who were somewhat disappointed by the performance of the Russian, who seemed to avoid finishing the champion during the fight.
While he may have landed over 500 strikes on his opponent, only 37 were significant, which made for tough viewing for fans of MMA striking.
Dan Hardy, the former British UFC star, was one of those left feeling like the 31-year-old could have been more active or shown a different type of intent.
In his interview with Submission Radio, Hardy explained his experience of viewing the fight.
He said: “I kind of tweeted a couple of times when it was on, that it was a bit frustrating. There weren’t many significant strikes landed. He was kind of tenderizing him and controlling him.
“It was impressive from a control perspective, don’t get me wrong. But of course, the main event of a pay-per-view, you kind of want to see a bit more intention to finish. That’s what I would like to have seen.
“That’s what Khamzat’s been all about. That’s why people have been so excited about him, is because of how overly aggressive he is. It’s scary to watch sometimes. It seemed a bit of a safer performance.”
‘Borz’s’ 21 minutes and 40 seconds of control time broke the UFC middleweight record and showed that if experts had doubts over his gas tank during a five-round fight, then they had their answer.
‘The Outlaw’ was not just critical of how the challenger won the belt, but was also left confused by the former champion’s performance.
“Maybe out of respect for Dricus and his strength and explosiveness and scrambling ability. But I also thought Dricus didn’t seem unprepared for those positions,” Hardy said.
“That was a weird thing for me. I was expecting him to be way more competitive on the ground.”
Ex-UFC star highlights the ‘really problematic’ middleweight contender who could trouble Khamzat Chimaev
While he may have passed the hurdle of beating the champion, Chimaev now has a long line of viable contenders waiting for their shot at the title.
UFC contender Anthony Hernandez called out the winner of the bout after his dominant submission win in the Apex, and Nassourdine Imavov takes on Caio Borralho in September, which serves up another big fight.
However, out of all the top 15 middleweights in the organisation, Hardy chose one who won a razor-close decision last month.
He said: “There are also some real problems in this weight class for him. Reinier de Ridder, he’s 6’4, he’s a great grappler, great judo. If he’s got the conditioning, he could be really problematic over five rounds.
“He’s got a very good guard, very tricky guard. When he was fighting at light heavyweight in ONE Championship, an incredible triangle from guard bottom, like an awkward kind of z-guard position.
“It was just super slick. And you don’t see that kind of stuff in MMA generally.”
The ‘Dutch Knight’ beat Robert Whittaker in their close three-round scrap, but it pushed him into the top five of the middleweight rankings.
An opportunity at the title could be easily granted soon for de Ridder, given the Whittaker and Bo Nickal wins, but he may just be behind Hernandez for a shot at the belt.