A UFC heavyweight contender wants some respect on his name.
Middleweight bogeyman Khamzat Chimaev has been the talk of the UFC world this week as the undefeated fighter enters his first title fight.
Chimaev looks to improve to 15-0 against champion Dricus du Plessis in the UFC 319 main event from Chicago, Illinois. Chimaev is one of the most feared title challengers in recent memory.
Not too far from title contention himself is Brazil’s Jailton Almeida.
The #5-ranked UFC heavyweight contender wasn’t given the next title opportunity against Tom Aspinall, despite an 8-1 run in the Octagon. Instead, Aspinall meets Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 and Almeida takes on Alexander Volkov on the undercard.
While he’s not undefeated like Chimaev, Almeida believes he’s still better than his middleweight counterpart.
Jailton Almeida shares stats he has over Khamzat Chimaev
Ahead of Chimaev’s title fight with du Plessis, Almeida posted a number of statistics between him and Chimaev, which favor the Brazilian.
“My manager brought some data about me and Chimaev, for the people who like statistics,” Almeida wrote on X.
Almeida shared that he had more finishes, higher takedown accuracy, fewer strikes absorbed per minute and fewer UFC records.
Almeida’s stats didn’t sit well with the fans.
“Khamzat never lost to curtis blaydes bruh,” one fan wrote.
“Almeida – 2 fight win streak Khamzat -14 fight win streak,” another fan said of his comparison to Chimaev.
“Ngl feels like he’s cherry picked the stats, doesn’t include losses, kos or time spent lying doing f— all,” another fan said.
Khamzat Chimaev could be one of a few undefeated UFC champions
Chimaev steps into the Octagon at UFC 319 at 14-0.
There is a 25-fight combined win streak between du Plessis and Chimaev and one streak will come to an end.
If Chimaev reaches 15-0 with a middleweight title win, he’ll join Ilia Topuria and Khabib Nurmagomedov as undefeated champions who have never lost.
Other fighters who captured the title while undefeated are Israel Adesanya, Ronda Rousey, Cain Velasquez, Lyoto Machida, and Chris Weidman.