UFC 319 is set to be headlined by a matchup that a lot of people are finding difficult to predict.
While he’s had some competitive fights inside the Octagon, Khamzat Chimaev has also been incredibly dominant in the vast majority of his wins.
As we recently saw when Chimaev effortlessly lifted Daniel Cormier into the air during fight week, the wrestling and strength of the undefeated challenger make him incredibly dangerous.
It’s not surprising to see predictions coming in ahead of August 16 that state that ‘Borz’ will be able to implement his will from the opening bell to become the new middleweight champion.
However, as Israel Adesanya stated, things will get interesting if Dricus du Plessis can survive Chimaev’s early offense, and Joe Rogan has a suggestion which will help him do this.
- LATEST NEWS: UFC 319 loses second fight within a matter of hours as the blockbuster card takes another hit
Joe Rogan suggests that Dricus du Plessis should build up a sweat backstage at UFC 319 to make himself harder to control
On a recent episode of the JRE MMA Show, Joe Rogan was joined by the likes of UFC legend Matt Serra and analyst Din Thomas to preview the main event of UFC 319.
The talk turned to Khamzat Chimaev’s dominant grappling and how despite some fighters having success against him, it’s still a huge puzzle for any fighter to try and solve.
As is the case in any fight, it could become more difficult for Chimaev to take Dricus du Plessis down and control him once both men start to become slippery.
This builds into the common thought that the defending champion has a better chance of winning this contest the longer that it goes on.
That is, unless du Plessis entered the Octagon having already made himself sweat significantly backstage, which Rogan initially suggested he should try as a joke.
While discussing this topic, though it started as a humorous idea, it seemed like the long-time UFC commentator started to come around to the idea that it could be a strategy that ‘Stillknocks’ could utilize because, according to Rogan, it isn’t against the rules.
“I would advise a strong warm up in a rubber suit. Go out there, just slippery as f—. If you don’t want to cheat, you can bend the rules because it’s not cheating… That actually might not be a bad idea, giving him those tracksuit things. Might not be a bad idea because you totally can do that. Like, no one can stop you from doing that.”
- LATEST NEWS: Khamzat Chimaev explains why he’s not interested in fighting in America despite acquiring a visa
Joe Rogan was left stunned after watching Khamzat Chimaev grapple with a former champion
There are plenty of examples of Khamzat Chimaev seemingly being able to do whatever he wants with his opponents once he gets hold of them.
During the podcast, Joe Rogan pointed to a recent example of the challenger’s dominant grappling after watching some of his preparations.
Rogan drew attention to the work that Chimaev was doing with former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, stating how impressive ‘Borz’ looked against the American.
“It was interesting watching him roll with Rockhold. I know that it’s not like Rockhold was in camp and prepared for this and this is Rockhold at his best. I don’t even know how much he had been training, but Khamzat just handled him. Just handled him and we know how good Rockhold is.”