Just over a year before he burst on to the scene in the UFC, Khamzat Chimaev almost got physical with one of YouTube’s biggest stars.
Logan Paul came to Sweden on a joint mission; training for his boxing rematch with fellow YouTuber KSI and recording an album which would never come to pass. In his time, he trained at MMA Allstars in Stockholm, learning to fight from the team in the gym.
Some video exists of his training at the famed MMA stronghold, in which he can be seen training with Chimaev and posing for photos with the fight team. In some stills, he even seems to be concerned about the Swede holding his teammate in a submission.
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Logan Paul details how he trained with Khamzat Chimaev
In the summer of 2019, Paul was still rebuilding his reputation after a scandal-filled 2018 that almost cost him his entertainment career. And the key jewel in that comeback was a series of boxing fights with KSI, neither of which he ended up winning.
The first one ended in a controversial draw after the American had tired and allowed his rival to come back late. And in an effort to improve his toughness and fitness, Paul headed to Sweden to train with some top fighters, including a young Khamzat Chimaev, who was only 5-0 at the time.
“I’m very familiar with his work,” Paul told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour during an appearance in 2022 at the height of Chimaev’s fame. “I went to Sweden to train for a couple weeks, and I went to this gym, and I looked over and there was this guy kind of staring at me. Big beard, looked like a bada**.
“It was where [Alexander] Gustafsson trained and months later, this guy named Khamzat Chimaev is making an incredible UFC run and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, that was the guy that was mean mugging me in that one gym in the middle of Sweden!’”
Khamzat Chimaev gives his side of Logan Paul training story
Chimaev recalls the story as being relatively similar to Paul’s telling. He noted that the American wanted no part of sparring with him even then, and claims that he had no idea who he was when he came to the gym.
“I didn’t train with him,” Chimaev said during his own appearance on Helwani’s show a few weeks later. “He was on the same mat. He was there and did it with an amateur guy, I was a pro guy, I think I was 2-0 at the time.
“He didn’t want to spar with me or other guys who were professional. He chose a guy who was an amateur, he doesn’t even train any more and he did with him 50/50 on the sparring and he left after that – I didn’t know who he was at the time.
“Now, he gets better and his brother got better in boxing, they train like professionals now. Maybe one day I can beat them as well.”
Logan Paul claims he would box Khamzat Chimaev, but fears MMA fight
Logan’s brother Jake Paul has made a name taking on MMA fighters in the boxing ring, with the older sibling following the formula last October when he defeated Dillon Danis. And while he admits that a bout in the cage would not go his way, Logan has expressed interest in a boxing meeting.
“I just showed up at the gym and sparred a couple of their guys,” Paul said of his time in Sweden, before admitting that “they didn’t let me spar Khamzat.”
“Yeah, no, he’s a f***ing dog,” he continued. “I’m not doing MMA with him. I’d box him for sure. I’d be more than happy to box him, but that’s the problem, all these UFC guys are locked up. They’re locked up. So it’s hard to get a fight with any of them.”
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