Michael Bisping has nothing but praise for Khamzat Chimaev following the latter’s flawless victory against Kevin Holland at UFC 279.
The UFC was almost forced to cancel the event after Khamat started a brawl before the press conference and then missed weight by seven and a half pounds the following day (his matchup with Diaz was canceled), but Bisping thinks ‘Borz’ more than made up for his shortcomings with his performance on Saturday night.
Khamzat made quick work of Holland after submitting ‘Trailblazer’ with a D’Arce choke in the first round, and Bisping was impressed. Seriously impressed.
“Chimaev needed that kind of performance,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel (h/t MMA Junkie). “He caused the press conference to be canceled, he didn’t make weight, the entire card got a shakeup in terms of who they were fighting, and that was all down to Chimaev, right?
“And if you go out there and you lose, or you go out there and have a boring fight, or you just scrape by a decision, it’s not the best look – certainly considering what you caused. The hassle, the stress, the expense, all of that, but it doesn’t matter. That is eradicated because he went out there, and he destroyed Kevin Holland.”
Bisping also likes that Khamzat unapologetically flipped off the crowd after missing weight and thinks UFC president Dana White and Co may have a new Bondesque supervillain on their hands.
“The UFC officially has a new super villain,” Bisping said. “I am, of course, talking about Khamzat Chimaev, ‘Borz,’ the ‘Wolf.’ Come on, when he walked out to that fight, the boos from the crowd were like nothing I’ve ever heard. I used to get booed a fair bit, as well, but that took the biscuit. That was mental.”
“He didn’t give a sh*t, and then he’s flipping off the crowd, then he’s talking sh*t, and he’s talking about killing people left, right and center. Listen, I absolutely love it. It brings a lot of controversy, it brings eyeballs, and it’s very, very polarizing. … He’s a legit bad guy. He’s straight out of a Bond movie.”
Chimaev is currently #3 in the UFC welterweight rankings, but his next fight is expected to take place at middleweight.
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