25 May 2023 , 12:40
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Khamzat Chimaev is adamant the UFC are protecting Israel Adesanya, declaring that he would "kill" the middleweight champion if the pair were to meet.
The Swede has been out of action since his submission win over Kevin Holland last September and appears to still be undecided on whether he will make one last push to hit the welterweight limit, or move up to 185lb altogether. He has fought at both weights in the promotion, and remains unbeaten with a series of high-profile wins against top opposition.
And he believes that his skillset as one of the promotion's best grapplers would mean that he would handily defeat Adesanya, known more for his proficiency as a kickboxer. The middleweight champion has lost just once at the weight in his career and immediately rectified that knockout loss to Alex Pereira with a stoppage of his own six months later.
“For Israel, there’s nobody there — only me,” Chimaev said on his YouTube channel. “So if you spoke about money, if you ask the fans, they want to see me and Israel. I’m a bad matchup for him. Everyone knows he’s going to lose the title [if we fight]. That’s why they save that guy.
“You know they built him up. They don’t want to lose him that fast. [I’d] finish that guy without punches, and that’s why they’re scared. Then [his] story’s dead, you know? They don’t want to kill that guy. Maybe the guy makes money for them, but I still make money, as well, so I don’t know what’s going on.”
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Chimaev believes the promotion have kept him with strikers in order to make sure he stands out, but that he will struggle against an elite wrestler. Indeed, his one loss prior to Pereira was his effort to become two-division champion against Jan Blachowicz, who out-grappled him over five rounds and used his size to defend his title.
“Who is he going to fight? There is nobody,” Chimaev added. “He wins against all the strikers, and I’m a wrestler, I'm a killer. I squeeze the heads of my opponents. I’m the biggest name without the belt. When you fight with me, it’s more money, more fans. When I fight, everyone is waiting for my fight. When I fought with Gilbert [Burns], we weren’t main event, but everyone was waiting for us.”
Chimaev has explained that his absence from the octagon has been due to the promotion making a return to Abu Dhabi, where he is a massive fan favourite, in October. Meanwhile, Adesanya is supposed to return in September when the promotion stages a major pay-per-view event in Sydney.