The manner in which Khamzat Chimaev won the UFC middleweight title has split opinion.
Chimaev sits on the throne at 185 pounds following an emphatic performance at the UFC 319 pay-per-view in Chicago this past Saturday.
While many thought his key to victory in the main event lay in the early rounds, Chimaev dominated Dricus du Plessis for 25 minutes, amassing an incredible 21 minutes and 40 seconds of control time, in addition to a record 529 strikes.
The key to such dominance was the Chechen star’s successful takedowns and smothering wrestling, but that approach and the lack of urgency in pursuing a finish left some fans less than pleased.
Javier Mendez says Khamzat Chimaev was right to fight Dricus du Plessis how he did
The MMA community has become used to seeing brutality from ‘Borz’ inside the Octagon. That was on display in the fight that earned him a title shot, which saw Chimaev violently submit Robert Whittaker in October 2024.
Having witnessed a much more patient strategy that was branded “boring” by some at UFC 319, not everyone was serenading the champ with praise on August 16.
That has evidently confused Javier Mendez, the longtime coach of Islam Makhachev and former trainer for the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov.
“He did what he wanted to do. He ragdolled him,” Mendez said during The Javier and Mo Show on YouTube.
“The gameplan (was) to take DDP down. That’s what I would have said. I would have told him exactly what he did. That is exactly what I would have had him do.
“Why? This is your one big opportunity to win the biggest prize,” Mendez continued. “You can be the biggest guy. For a long time, we haven’t had one this big.
“This guy could be really big, so why risk it? I would tell him, ‘Just take him down. And if he gets back up, take him down again.’
“Sometimes people say, ‘Oh, it’s boring.’ Well, okay, whose fault is it that it’s boring? If the person can’t stop you from taking him down and he wants to stand, it’s your fault! Stand up! If not, learn your game.”
Demetrious Johnson also defended Khamzat Chimaev’s UFC 319 strategy
The coach of Makhachev and Khabib is not the only prominent name defending Chimaev’s approach in the aftermath of UFC 319.
Also in the new champ’s corner is flyweight GOAT Demetrious Johnson. While live-streaming his reactions to UFC 319, Johnson sent a message to Chimaev’s detractors, simply telling them to stop watching MMA if they don’t enjoy wrestling.
“If you guys don’t wanna watch grappling and wrestling and jiu-jitsu — don’t watch the UFC,” Johnson said.
“You guys are complaining about something that is a very easy problem to fix. For example, let’s say Khamzat is about to fight again, you don’t wanna watch his style. All you’ve gotta do is go like this: you see this button right here, it’s called off button.
“You don’t have to see Khamzat wrestle,” Johnson continued. “It’s a very simple problem to fix guys. You guys are making it a bigger deal than it is.”