When it was announced that Khamzat Chimaev would finally fight for a UFC title, Joe Rogan was stuffed with 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 within the UFC 319 principal event in Chicago.
Ahead of what guarantees to be an incredible matchup, fans and fellow fighters are torn on who they consider will come out of ‘The Windy City’ because the middleweight champion.
Although ‘Borz’ is widely considered considered one of the most important lively stars in the game, UFC legend Din Thomas claimed it might be a ‘disaster’ if Chimaev won the title considering his inactivity over the previous few years.
Nevertheless, UFC icon Joe Rogan was stuffed with praise of the Chechen following the title fight announcement, making a daring claim about Chimaev’s abilities.
Rogan claimed Chimaev is ‘magnitudes higher’ 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 inside the first round, scoring his most impressive win up to now.
“I don’t know if (it would be any different against Du Plessis). (Dricus) can wrestle, he’s got superb jiu-jitsu, he hits f—— hard and he’s an enormous durable dude. But I don’t know if he’s going to give you the option to wrestle with (Chimaev). I don’t know man.
“The Khamzat skill is so high level, it makes me wonder. Some guys, such as you see it in jiu-jitsu, there’s some guys that look really good until they fight someone that’s really really good and so they get manhandled.
“Like, is Khamzat at that level? It form of appears that he’s. It seems that he’s by way of the grappling that he possesses, seems magnitudes greater than anyone in his division,” Rogan continued.
Du Plessis believes his ‘controversial’ fight style will probably be his UFC 319 superpower
Although ‘Stillknocks’ often gets written off ahead of his fights, he continues to prove the critics improper by successfully defending his 185lb title.
And ahead of UFC 319, the South African once more believes his ‘controversial’ fight style will probably be his superpower, as he has claimed it’s unattainable for his opponents to seek out sparring partners to mimic his style.