Khamzat Chimaev was left confused when he was asked about Islam Makhachev’s famous ‘2-3 years Dagestan’ phrase.
On Saturday night, Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland‘s intense rivalry finally culminates in what fans are hoping will probably be a sensational fight within the UFC 328 most important event.
Although there was numerous criticism when it was first announced that Strickland would fight for the 185lb title next, his usual pre-fight antics have increased the anticipation for this fight significantly.
And after the previous middleweight champion claimed that he would ‘shoot’ Chimaev if he and his team jumped in, the UFC are taking no risks and have increased the safety tenfold for fight week.
If Sean Strickland is in a position to stop Khamzat Chimaev’s dominant wrestling, how much of a probability do you give him?🤔
Sean Strickland is believed to have the striking advantage over Khamzat Chimaev.
Khamzat Chimaev gives offended response after awkward query at media scrum
Throughout fight week, ‘Borz’ has been extremely calm and picked up, not doing anything to fret the promotion that he’ll jeopardize the fight.
It was in truth a media member who got here closest to angering the champion with an odd query that he asked him during a media scrum this past Tuesday.
“Islam (Makhachev) has said two-three years in Dagestan, that’s all you wish, what’s the key behind training there and becoming a professional fighter,” a confused media member asked Chimaev.
“Erm, I don’t know, ask Islam, I’m not from Dagestan, I’m from Chechnya. No (I’ve never trained there),” Chimaev angrily responded.
Islam Makhachev famously told Daniel Cormier to send his son to Dagestan for ‘two-three years and forget’, with the phrase having grow to be commonplace in MMA.
Despite that, Chimaev was born in Chechnya and that’s where his journey in MMA began before he moved to Sweden.
Now, though, the 32-year-old trains from California on the Santo Studios, in addition to with Sam Calavitta on the Treigning Lab.
Although Chimaev and Makhachev have a mutual respect for one another, there was once a time when there was tension between their two teams.
In 2022, Chimaev ended up in a cageside scuffle with Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s cousin, Abubakar Nurmagomedov.
Khabib went on to facilitate a gathering between the 2 where each teams squashed their beef respectfully.
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