Khamzat Chimaev proved Israel Adesanya wrong at UFC 319.
Years after taking the sport by storm on Fight Island, ‘Borz’ has finally touched UFC gold in Chicago, Illinois. Chimaev returned to the United States to take on middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis in the main event of UFC 319 on Saturday night and man, did the wrestler deliver.
Chimaev broke multiple UFC records on his way to dethroning du Plessis via unanimous decision. Across five rounds, Chimaev landed over 500 strikes and scored 12 takedowns with 21 minutes of control time.
With his seemingly unbeatable style, Chimaev ushers in a new era in the middleweight division, one a former champion and icon Adesanya has taken notice of.
Israel Adesanya says middleweight is in ‘good hands’ with Khamzat Chimaev as champion
Prior to the title fight, Adesanya had backed former foe du Plessis to beat Chimaev via late TKO.
Chimaev surprised many, including Adesanya, by how he was able to go five rounds with du Plessis and not fatigue.
“Not what I expected,” Adesanya said of Chimaev’s title win on his YouTube channel.
“But I’m glad Khamza fixed his cardio or improved his cardio to the point where he can go five rounds and just ragdoll people.
“That’s a mess to deal with because I thought DDP, okay, maybe round four, he’d be able to stuff the takedowns because Khamzat would get tired. But he didn’t even slow down.
“He slowed down DDP,” Adesanya said of Chimaev.
“He slowed him down, which was very impressive because that’s when he finished me in round four. Because I thought, okay, I got him now, but he just finds a way to get his third wind, fourth wind.
“But yeah, Khamzat made sure he didn’t even get the first wind and just smothered him.
50-44. That was crazy.
“Khamzat new middleweight champion, division is in good hands,” Adesanya said.
A former champion of the division, Adesanya is currently riding a three-fight losing skid to du Plessis, Sean Strickland, and Nassourdine Imavov.
Khamzat Chimaev joins Israel Adesanya as third undefeated champion in middleweight history
Chimaev is one of several undefeated fighters to make it to a UFC championship.
Two fighters reached the feat at lightweight as current champion Ilia Topuria and the retired Khabib Nurmagomedov never lost to anyone.
At 15-0, Chimaev is the third undefeated fighter to hold the middleweight title. Former champion Adesanya was the second, going all the way up to 20-0.
Chris Weidman, the first, defended his title three times and reached 13-0 before he finally lost to Luke Rockhold in 2015.