{"id":347015,"date":"2025-12-15T16:05:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T16:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/347015\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T16:05:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T16:05:13","slug":"mma-veteran-takes-aim-at-khamzat-chimaevs-dominance-too-boring-to-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/347015\/","title":{"rendered":"MMA Veteran Takes Aim At Khamzat Chimaev’s Dominance: Too Boring To Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"

UFC champion Khamzat Chimaev<\/a> has been slammed as \u2018boring\u2019 according to a UFC veteran. Brazilian jiu-jitsu<\/a> legend Allan Goes, a pioneer who spent the better part of three decades competing at the highest levels of combat sports, recently shared some blunt thoughts on UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev\u2019s fighting approach. Goes, who trained under Carlson Gracie and competed in PRIDE Fighting Championships, the UFC, and the International Fight League, didn\u2019t hold back when discussing the undefeated Russian wrestler\u2019s current reign.<\/p>\n

UFC Champ Khamzat Chimaev Slammed for Being \u2018Boring\u2019: MMA Veteran Allan Goes Explains<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople talk about this now \u2013 guys that stall or just go to the ground and stay in a half-guard position and control. They say, \u2018Chimaev is boring. He sits in the guy\u2019s guard or in half guard<\/a>, punching, and it\u2019s boring.\u2019 He\u2019s controlling and he\u2019s dominating. Controlling, dominating \u2013 but it\u2019s boring to watch, boring to watch.\u201d The comment came in the wake of Chimaev\u2019s dominant title-winning performance at UFC 319 in August, where he methodically dismantled former champion Dricus du Plessis over five rounds.\u200b The interview<\/a> was with Quinton \u2018Rampage\u2019 Jackson.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Chimaev<\/a> secured 50-44 scorecards across the board in that fight, a result that sparked significant crowd reaction and commentary about the style of combat he employs. The new champion demonstrated elite-level grappling and wrestling, executing over ten takedowns and maintaining ground control for 21 minutes and 40 seconds of the 25-minute contest. Du Plessis, a former champion, had virtually no answer for Chimaev\u2019s suffocating top pressure and technical positioning.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Goes acknowledged Chimaev\u2019s technical credentials<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s the world champ, I respect that. He\u2019s probably got the best wrestling in the UFC by far, that\u2019s why he dominates everybody.\u201d The assessment rings true when examining Chimaev\u2019s record. The middleweight champion sits at 15-0 and has defeated several high-calibre opponents, including former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman<\/a> and former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. His wrestling combines explosive takedowns with suffocating positional control, a style that has proven nearly impossible to counter at the professional level.\u200b<\/p>\n

\"\"CHICAGO, ILLINOIS \u2013 AUGUST 16: Khamzat Chimaev of the United Arab Emirates grapples with Dricus du Plessis<\/a> of South Africa during their middleweight title bout in UFC 319 at the United Center on August 16, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Geoff Stellfox\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

However, Goes drew a distinction between effective fighting and entertaining fighting. \u201cBut it\u2019s not a fight I would watch all day. I would watch Rampage all day because I know somebody\u2019s going to go down, not have somebody just trapping the leg, controlling distance.\u201d The reference to Rampage Jackson<\/a>, the legendary PRIDE and UFC fighter known for violent knockouts and aggressive striking.<\/p>\n

Goes then offered a glimpse into his own perspective on what constitutes complete fighting. \u201cI love Chimaev\u2019s game as a grappler, I would be doing the same thing \u2013 but I would look for submissions.\u201d Goes came up through Brazilian jiu-jitsu and transitioning to MMA during an era when submission attempts and technical exchanges happened frequently. Chimaev, by contrast, specializes in control-based wrestling that prioritizes position and dominance whilst minimizing risk.\u200b<\/p>\n

Chimaev landed over 500 total strikes against Du Plessis, demonstrating that his approach generates offensive output. Yet the crowd reaction at UFC 319<\/a> suggested that technical dominance doesn\u2019t always translate to audience satisfaction.\u200b<\/p>\n

As an eight-time Brazilian National Jiu-Jitsu Champion and a fighter who competed against Frank Shamrock<\/a>, Dan Henderson, and Kazushi Sakuraba during his professional MMA career, his perspective stems from genuine experience at the sport\u2019s highest level. He witnessed firsthand the evolution of MMA from the 1990s through the 2000s, a period when fights looked fundamentally different from today\u2019s technical wrestling-dominated contests.<\/p>\n

\"\"CHICAGO, ILLINOIS \u2013 AUGUST 16: Khamzat Chimaev of Russia reacts after a unanimous-decision victory against Dricus Du Plessis of South Africa in the UFC middleweight championship fight during the UFC 319 event at the United Center on August 16, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Ed Mulholland\/Zuffa LLC)<\/p>\n

Chimaev remains focused on his path forward. The champion recently indicated plans to make one middleweight title defence before attempting to capture a second belt at light heavyweight, targeting current champion Alex Pereira<\/a>. Whether that strategy will earn him different crowd reactions or continued criticism for his control-based approach remains to be seen. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC champion Khamzat Chimaev has been slammed as \u2018boring\u2019 according to a UFC veteran. Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Allan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-347015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}