A lot of fans and fighters expected cardio to be a substantial factor in the main event of UFC 319.
After becoming the middleweight champion with a one-sided performance, Khamzat Chimaev said he intends to keep working with the coach that helped him improve this aspect of his game.
Dricus du Plessis was unable to produce a substantial rally late in the fight because he was frequently taken down and controlled by his challenger.
There is one contender in the middleweight division who some believe will have a better chance of dealing with the new champion’s elite wrestling.
Chimaev even hinted that this opponent could be his first title defense following a short post on social media several days after his dominant display.
Reinier de Ridder isn’t ready to write off questions about Khamzat Chimaev’s cardio after UFC 319
As a big middleweight with some elite grappling skills of his own, Reinier de Ridder would certainly offer an interesting challenge to Khamzat Chimaev.
‘The Dutch Knight’ may be best known for the submission threat that he brings to the table but he’s also found a lot of success with his striking, specifically with the knees he used to great effect in his recent outings.
While de Ridder was very impressed by how dominant Chimaev was on Saturday night, he’s still not sure that ‘Borz’ was able to completely answer one of the biggest questions people had going into the fight.
His gas tank has received a lot of praise after he continuously secured takedowns and controlled Dricus du Plessis on the ground but his potential next challenger told Submission Radio that his cardio wasn’t ever put to the test.
“It didn’t really have anything to do with cardio this one. We saw that he did very well, but the thing is, you need to make somebody tired. Dricus was surviving in the first two rounds but that didn’t take anything out of Khamzat’s gas tank.”
While we have seen Chimaev get tired in fights in the past, that’s been a factor in matchups where he wasn’t able to completely dictate where the bout took place.
De Ridder recognizes that the new champion may have made some significant improvements in this area in preparation for his title fight, but he’s not ready to completely disregard this as a factor just yet.
“I do think this wasn’t the fight that we see that in. I think he needs to be tested a bit more to be able to say more about how his cardio is. But, it looked decent at least and because of the control he got, it was very impressive.”
Reinier de Ridder was frustrated at some of Dricus du Plessis’ actions at UFC 319
Khamzat Chimaev’s cardio wasn’t truly put to the test because whenever he took Dricus du Plessis down, it was incredibly difficult for the defending champion to get back to his feet.
Reinier de Ridder took issue with several aspects of the South African’s performance that didn’t benefit him when trying to keep the fight standing.
“I was very frustrated with him going for the guillotine twice very sloppily. It’s hard to get out sometimes when somebody is on your back like that when they were against the wall, the side turtle position with the arms locked but there’s a few tricks that he could have done better there.”
A crucial aspect of the matchup was du Plessis’ inability to escape from the crucifix position, which de Ridder also found frustrating to watch.
“He got stuck in that crucifix twice, after the first time I was like f— man. Dude, don’t put your hand there. Put your hand somewhere else dude. Make frames. On bottom, he was basically just holding Khamzat on top of him.”