Khamzat Chimaev picked up a win over a top-10 UFC middleweight, but it wasn’t in fighting.
On Friday, Chimaev and Jack Hermansson had a freestyle pay-per-view wrestling match. The two know each other due to both being from the Nordic countries of Europe, so the two UFC fighters decided to have a wrestling match. The match took place at 187lbs but in the end, it was Chimaev winning by points.
It’s pretty cool to see MMA guys compete against each other in a specific discipline.
Hermansson is a national champion in Greco Roman and Khamzat is a national champion in freestyle. Khamzat looks very strong in those clips.
Very strong and very fluid. The guy is a beast. Hope the match-up with Gilbert Burns happens so we can see if Gilbert’s BJJ is effective after Chimaev takes him down.
Is Khamzat the best wrestler currently in MMA?
Islam Makhachev may be better, but he’s smaller. LW vs WW (although Chimaev could hold his own at MW, no doubt).
Interesting that he ragdolled Hermansson in the first round, scoring eight points in three minutes, but didn’t score a single point in the second round. That’s the first time he’s looked human.
He could turn out to be a Vitor-type fighter.