Henry Cejudo: I see Khamzat Chimaev ‘easily beating’ Israel Adesanya

Henry Cejudo didn’t have much to say about Israel Adesanya’s decision win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 but, judging from a recent Tweet, ‘Triple C’ wasn’t too impressed with what he saw.

His main takeaway from the fight? ‘The Last Sylebender’ loses to Khamzat Chimaev. Badly.

“From what I’ve heard from a lot of people is that this dude literally trains like nobody has ever seen before.” Cejudo told The Schmo in a recent interview. “When you’re a wrestler and you’re like that — and he’s driven. Man, I could see him easily beating Israel Adesanya.”

“I don’t even gamble, but if I was a betting man, @KChimaev is the man that will stop Israel Adesanya. If @stylebender could beat him I will shut up, I will apologize. But if that fight ever happens, I got Khamzat. He’s a whole other animal.”

Chimaev (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) is one of the hottest prospects in the UFC right now, but the Allstar Training Center product is unproven against top-level talent. That could all change on April 9, however, when ‘Borz’ is slated to take on former title challenger and No. 2-ranked welterweight Gilbert Burns in a welterweight contest at UFC 273. Both men have verbally agreed to the matchup on social media, but the bout has yet to be made official.

As for Adesanya, the 32-year-old all but cleared out the middleweight division with his win over Whittaker at the weekend. The reigning champ is currently #3 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings and is considered by many to be one of the greatest middleweight champions of all time.