Sean Strickland will likely be anticipating a very early takedown from Khamzat Chimaev.
Strickland’s ex-teammate predicted that he could finish Chimaev later today because he’ll be more aggressive due to the feud between them.
While the undefeated champion’s last performance wasn’t the most entertaining, he usually doesn’t wait long before attempting to maul his opponents.
Chimaev admitted that he needs to stop Strickland following fan criticism, but Stephen Thompson thinks this could backfire on ‘Borz’.
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Stephen Thompson says Sean Strickland could try and time a knee when Khamzat Chimaev shoots for the first time
Khamzat Chimaev’s concerning weigh-in led to some fans changing their prediction for the middleweight title fight due to how drained he looked.
Despite this, it would be surprising to not see the middleweight champion go for a takedown within the first few seconds of the bout due to his usual approach.
When sharing his thoughts on the fight, Stephen Thompson questioned whether this could lead to Sean Strickland replicating Jorge Masvidal’s record-holding five-second knockout.
“I predict we may have another Jorge Masvidal and Ben Askren on our hands,” he told Ariel Helwani. “Check it out, maybe. Khamzat, every time he comes out, he’ll either fake a high five, he’ll throw like one punch and then shoot immediately. I think Strickland’s got, he’s waiting for that. Of course, if he doesn’t get it, it’s going to be a bad day for Strickland. But, he’s got that one instant where he can make it happen.”
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While Masvidal and Askren have since ended their rivalry, the build to their 2019 clash was very tense.
Despite this, an incredibly composed ‘Gamebred’ was able to capitalize on his opponent’s natural reaction to shoot for a takedown when he ran at him and landed a flying knee in spectacular fashion.
As Thompson pointed out during his breakdown, the risk for Strickland would be that if the knee misses or doesn’t knock Chimaev out, he’ll likely find himself in bottom position right at the start of the first round.
Many are expecting the defending champion to have the advantage early on due to his aggression and wrestling.
The question for many fans is whether Strickland can survive the early rounds, wear on Chimaev, and test him in deep waters late on.