When it was announced that Khamzat Chimaev would finally fight for a UFC title, Joe Rogan was full of praise for the Chechen superstar.
On August 16, Khamzat Chimaev will finally fight for the UFC middleweight title when he and champion Dricus Du Plessis clash in the UFC 319 main event in Chicago.
Ahead of what guarantees to be an incredible matchup, fans and fellow fighters are torn on who they believe will come out of ‘The Windy City’ as the middleweight champion.
Although ‘Borz’ is widely regarded as one of the biggest active stars in the sport, UFC legend Din Thomas claimed it would be a ‘disaster’ if Chimaev won the title considering his inactivity over the last few years.
However, UFC icon Joe Rogan was full of praise of the Chechen following the title fight announcement, making a bold claim about Chimaev’s abilities.
Rogan claimed Chimaev is ‘magnitudes better’ than all other middleweights
Not long after the blockbuster fight was announced, Rogan shared his thoughts on the matchup, having previously been critical of Du Plessis’ fight style during his fights.
“(Chimaev) is terrifying, he does that to everybody, everybody he gets hold of he just rag dolls, even really elite wrestlers, it’s very extraordinary, his talent is undeniable, and seeing him breaking Robert Whittaker’s jaw just squeezing across his face,” Rogan said during an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience.
In Chimaev’s last outing, he utterly dominated Robert Whittaker, breaking his jaw within the first round, scoring his most impressive win to date.
“I don’t know if (it will be any different against Du Plessis). (Dricus) can wrestle, he’s got very good jiu-jitsu, he hits f—— hard and he’s a big durable dude. But I don’t know if he’s going to be able to wrestle with (Chimaev). I don’t know man.
“The Khamzat skill is so high level, it makes me wonder. Some guys, like you see it in jiu-jitsu, there’s some guys that look really good until they fight someone that’s really really good and they get manhandled.
“Like, is Khamzat at that level? It kind of appears that he is. It appears that he’s in terms of the grappling that he possesses, seems magnitudes greater than anyone in his division,” Rogan continued.
Du Plessis believes his ‘controversial’ fight style will be his UFC 319 superpower
Although ‘Stillknocks’ often gets written off ahead of his fights, he continues to prove the critics wrong by successfully defending his 185lb title.
And ahead of UFC 319, the South African once again believes his ‘controversial’ fight style will be his superpower, as he has claimed it is impossible for his opponents to find sparring partners to mimic his style.