Khamzat Chimaev has joined an elite group of fighters following his middleweight title win at UFC 319 this past Saturday.
On Saturday the premier promotion returned to Chicago for the first time since 2019 with UFC 319 headlined by Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev.
In a surprise result, ‘Borz’ utterly dominated the South African in a dominant display where his cardio held up, sailing on to become the new middleweight champion.
Following the fight, UFC boss Dana White claimed that Chimaev could return to action sooner rather than later, claiming that he is interested in adding him to the UFC 321 event in October after ‘Borz’ already registered interest in fighting there.
Islam Makhachev and Jon Jones react to Chimaev’s title win
Ever since he debuted in the promotion in 2020, it seemed inevitable that the Chechen would go on to win UFC gold, but it didn’t feel like it would take this long.
And with his win, Chimaev has joined a small group of elite fighters to win a UFC title whilst maintaining an undefeated record, joining the likes of Israel Adesanya, Ilia Topuria and a few others.
Now, Chimaev will likely look to continue building his legacy, hoping to finish his career in the GOAT debate. And before his first title fight, Chimaev was full of praise for who he believes is the greatest of all time, Jon Jones.
“Congratulations (wolf),” Jones posted on X early this Sunday morning.
Also sending Chimaev a congratulations message was former lightweight king, Islam Makhachev, who’s team previously feuded with Chimaev after he and Abubakar Nurmagomedov got in a bust up in the crowd of a UFC event.
“Congratulations, it was sure (to happen),” Makhachev posted on his Instagram story.
Could Khamzat Chimaev go down as one of the greatest of all time?
At this point, it is clear that the Chechen’s skillset is very limited, but what he does well, he does better than anyone else in the sport.
Someone who was extremely similar in that regard was Khabib Nurmagomedov, who consistently dominated his opponents on the ground, but his striking left a lot to be desired.
Despite that, ‘The Eagle’ is still widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time, which will give ‘Borz’ hope that he can also create a similar legacy to his compatriot.