Despite Khamzat Chimaev’s dominance at UFC 319, the new champion caused a stir with his approach.
Chimaev finally reached the mountaintop in MMA’s leading promotion, five years after reeling off a number of wins in quick succession to announce his arrival and begin a quick ascent to stardom.
The latest victim on the undefeated Chechen’s rise was Dricus du Plessis, who was looking to stay unbeaten in the Octagon himself this past Saturday night. But in the UFC 319 main event, Chimaev beat Du Plessis in one-sided fashion.
The South African was able to offer little resistance to Chimaev’s smothering wrestling game. The now-former champ compared his opponent to a “blanket,” and it seems such a strategy from the challenger has left many in the fanbase less than satisfied.
Demetrious Johnson tells those who hate Khamzat Chimaev’s wrestling to stop watching the UFC
Fans, fighters, and analysts have seemingly been divided after Chimaev’s long-predicted title crowning. While some were immediately in awe of his complete dominance over a man who had yet to taste defeat in the UFC, others were critical of his approach.
In terms of the Chechen star’s path to victory, many pre-fight predictions suggested a brutal and quick finish, like Chimaev’s submission against Robert Whittaker last year, was his bet.
With that past violence in mind, plenty of people were frustrated by the absence of the usual killer instinct from ‘Borz’. Demetrious Johnson, though, has no time for the new champ’s detractors.
While reacting to UFC 319 during a live stream on his YouTube channel, the flyweight GOAT told those who complain about wrestling displays like Chimaev’s in Chicago to simply stop watching the UFC.
“If you guys don’t wanna watch grappling and wrestling and jiu-jitsu — don’t watch the UFC,” Johnson said.
“You guys are complaining about something that is a very easy problem to fix. For example, let’s say Khamzat is about to fight again, you don’t wanna watch his style. All you’ve gotta do is go like this: you see this button right here, it’s called off button.
“You don’t have to see Khamzat wrestle,” Johnson continued. “It’s a very simple problem to fix guys. You guys are making it a bigger deal than it is.”
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Khamzat Chimaev’s wrestling almost broke 18-year UFC record
Chimaev’s one-sided title win came close to surpassing a record that many thought would never get close to being touched.
One record did fall in the UFC 319 main event, as Khamzat Chimaev landed the most strikes in a fight with an astonishing 529, compared with just 45 from Du Plessis in the 25-minute contest.
To be in a position to land so many strikes, few of which dealt any noticeable damage to the South African, Chimaev racked up control time totaling 21 minutes and 40 seconds.
That figure has left Chimaev behind only Sean Sherk on the all-time list. ‘The Muscle Shark’ amassed over 22 minutes in his 2007 victory over Hermes Franca.