Do you think Khamzat Chimaev will ever become UFC champion?

[Morris88]

To became Champion you have to fight

So, bad news..

You get a like for your username alone brother

 

[dmwalking]

Anything is possible.

 

[Vanzanto]

Easiest question I'll answer all day.....absolutely!!! Im not saying he'll be the best ever or have a long reign.

But, if he never gets the belt, it would be a combination of serious cases of bad luck and mismanagement of his career.

Offensively, he is incredibly talented. People with less talent have won championship belts.

His lack of activity is a concern though.

 

[Sinedd]

Not if he can't make 170 anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a Till like dropoff at 185. Both heavily relied on their size at 170 and grapplers in general don't do that well when moving up.

 

[Guy LeDouche]

He's fighting Whittaker most likely since everyone else ducked him and they couldn't get him a fight recently. Everyone went radio silent when UFC/Dana and Khamzat was looking to get a fight signed. That's the fight that UFC is working on and Whittaker and his team is already expecting as their next fight.

If people duck you it's hard to get a fight, so the blame isn't on Khamzat, it's on the people that refuse to fight him.

Is it confirmed he’s fighting Whittaker? Because right now it’s just all talk….like it’s been with everything for the last six months

“Oh no one wants to fight me!!” when he’s had multiple guys agree to fight him over social media and interviews. I’m sick of the talk and this everyone’s afraid of me act. I’ll believe it when I see it.

 

[chinarice]

I will be shocked if he doesn't

I think he can beat the 170 and 185 champ right now

 

[C0NCH3TO]

I gave him more chances at 170. I still think he can become mw champ but forget about him defending a belt 2+ times.

 

[eddi]

I doubt it. He lost 2-1 at rounds against gilbert and should have lost the decision. Failed every single takedown attempt against Aliskerov. Also what people do not realize is that Khamzat struggled to take down Holland, who many regard as having the worst TDD in ufc. He had to really put some effort to take Holland down. More so, he could not really keep him down. Holland got up everytime he got taken down, he was even getting up when he got caught with that choke. Brunson, Vettori and even Santos had no problems keeping Holland on the ground.

he didnt struggle to takedown holland he didnt try to time the takedown nor wait for the opportunity he basically just ran through him like a kid that was very humiliating for holland who struggled as much as he could while fresh yet still got submitted fast af.
i guarantee you he's mentally scarred now and may never be the same mentally, he got sonned hard

 

[Bradillac]

Never.

 

[Dionysian]

Victim of circumstance. If it wasn't for two come-from-behind 5th round stoppages on the part of contenders (Leon + Alex) dethroning long-time champs (Kamaru + Izzy) then Khamzat would have stopped both dominant champs and attained instant all-time legendary status.

Instead, because WME masturbates to the idea of endless rematches, he's now in limbo while both titles are on ice and the best we got is an anti-climactic fight of him vs Robert that doesn't really have much logic behind it. Really disappointing.

 

[Typrune Goatley]

If he can still make Welterweight, then yes.

If he is forced to move up to Middleweight, it will be much more difficult when you have guys like Whittaker, Costa, Vettori up there

 

[TempleoftheDog]

Idk. If WW is out of the picture. It would depend who he fights for the belt at MW if he even got a TS.

I don’t think he’s close to a lock to beat Whittaker. But I’d probably pick him over Izzy, or Alex.

It’s just not a black and white question to me with so little context.

 

[mmadeewana]

I have a hard time seeing him champ at 185

 

[Chagaev]

With the right matchups.

He's not getting any younger though and his window of opportunity is closing.

 

[jjoaogbs]

I love the way Khamzat has been tearing up the competition, but let's be real, the guy's gotta get his weight under control. Making weight is a crucial part of being a champion and if he can't consistently hit the mark, he ain't ever gonna wear that belt. And let's not forget, he's fought a couple of guys who are, let's just say, not exactly top tier competition. Until he faces some real challenges and proves he can make weight, I'm not convinced he's got what it takes to become a UFC champion.

 

[Kratos94]

If he can make 170 without any trouble, then absolutely. I'd pick him over Edwards and Usman. 185 could be troublesome with Whittaker and Nickal if he makes it.

 

[Mentallooser]

Absolutely no clue. If he can comfortably make 170 then I feel he definitely can. If he can only make 185 then we don't really know what he looks like at the top levels. So... no idea.

 

[RichardHarrow]

This is the Icarus paradox - the UFC promoted their corporate kid too fast too soon and somewhat controversially bests number 2 in Burns and has

Bad cardio
Striking/ defense issues
Suspect ring iq
Weight cutting

Most fighters get to figure those things in good time because they’re not confronted with being the cash cow. But this is a difficulty that he now faces and i opine that it might be time to take a step back and go to the drawing board .He’s doing the wise thing. He needs to polish up .

 

[TooTricky]

I think Khamzat hype has died down a bit nowadays. Does anyone still believe he'll be a champion?

His toughest fights are going to be Leon, Usman, and Shavkat (potentially). I need to see him against one of them before I can confidently say he's a champ, but it's possible and he's top 3 as of right now IMO.

185 will be a lot closer because his size/strength advantage diminishes drastically. I still think he beats Pereira, but big strong 85ers like Brunson, Costa, Muniz, etc... would make it competitive.

 

[Th3 Gr38 1]

He will never be booked to fight in the UFC again