Khamzat Chimaev has been inactive for nearly a full year. He has not entered the octagon since defeating Kamaru Usman, who moved up a weight class on ten days notice, via majority decision at UFC 294 last October. While ‘Borz’ appeared set to face Robert Whittaker at UFC on ABC 6 in June, he was forced to withdraw from the bout due to an undisclosed illness.
The pair will now clash at UFC 308 next month as they face one another in a five-round co-main event.
The No.12-ranked middleweight recently ranked UFC fighters in terms of how difficult a potential matchup would be, with one being the easiest and ten being the most difficult. In footage shared by Championship Rounds, he was initially asked about Sean Strickland, stating:
“I think five. This guy talks too much. He knows already what I did to him in the gym. He says sparring is different than fighting. They’re the same s**t, bro.”
“5 [or] 6, too, as well. Of course, I’m going to catch him and take him down and squeeze his head off.”
Regarding Whittaker, his upcoming opponent, ‘Borz’ added:
“3 [or] 4. I thought he was a good guy, man. He started to lie now I don’t like that guy.”
When asked about Leon Edwards, Chimaev shared:
“Maybe 2 [or] 3. That should be easy. Smash his face.”
‘Borz’ was asked about Shavkat Rakhmonov next, responding:
“5. Good striker. He has a good chin, as well, but no wrestling.”
He was then asked about facing Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov at the same time, laughing as he claimed:
“Not that question, bro. It’s weird because nobody fights with two guys in the UFC.”
Finally, when asked about heavyweight champion Jon Jones, Chimaev joked:
“9. I will shoot him [from] far away, man. Don’t make problems, troubles, you know?”
Check out Khamzat Chimaev ranking the difficulty of opponents below:
Khamzat Chimaev will have the opportunity to prove that Whittaker is an easy opponent next month. If he can get through ‘The Reaper’, he could be in line to receive the first title opportunity of his UFC career.