Khamzat Chimaev is being compared to Georges St-Pierre in a way that is sure to have fight fans split.
Fans and experts have had plenty to say in the aftermath of UFC 319. Khamzat Chimaev took the UFC Middleweight Championship from Dricus du Plessis in dominant fashion this past Saturday. “Borz” put his grappling on full display and “Stillknocks” had no answer for it. Ultimately, Chimaev won UFC gold via unanimous decision.
The bout may have been entertaining for some, as they were witnessing one of the most dominant performances in a title fight. On the other hand, some have expressed their dismay over the lack of action. Former UFC standup warrior Matt Brown had some thoughts on MMAFighting‘s “The Fighter vs. The Writer.” He compared the groans of Chimaev’s dominance to the era where “GSP” reigned supreme.
“It was boring,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “[Georges St-Pierre] had a lot of boring fights. But we don’t really talk about how boring GSP was do we? We talk about how dominant he was. That’s the game that we’re playing. You can’t take anything away from Khamzat for what he did. It’s cool watching him develop.
“I think we see a lot of these wrestlers come into MMA … we see wrestlers think they’re strikers. I think Khamzat went through that phase a little bit with [Gilbert] Burns and [Kamaru] Usman and then he was like ‘wait a minute, I’m the best wrestler here, what am I doing? And got back to it. He got a championship out of it.”
Chimaev’s first challenger will be a story to watch in the coming weeks. The UFC isn’t short on options, as the likes of Reinier de Ridder, the winner of Nassourdine Imavov vs. Caio Borralho, and even Anthony Hernandez are potential contenders.