Khamzat Chimaev has quickly & very suddenly burst onto the mma map with 2 dominant first round stoppages within 10 days on “Fight Island”, so dominant were they that alot of fans are asking to see him paired up against a top 10 opponent next.
The Khabib comparisons he is currently receiving are very much justified as he takes you down when he feels like it, much like Khabib & once your there well there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it, again much like Khabib.
Those comparisons have only heightened the last 24 hours as Chimaev came out with an interesting nugget of information in an interview with Russian freelance reporter Adam Zubayraev (via Nolan King of MMA Junkie).
Chimaev stated he travelled to Ireland in 2018 at roughly around the time of his debut simply to find Conor McGregor & “beat him up” for comments he once made towards Khabib & Chechens.
“At that time, I was fighting as an amateur or a pro record of 1-0 when that happened,” Chimaev said in Russian, as translated by Zubayraev. “It is that time when he insulted Khabib, and he also was talking about Zubaira (Tukhugov). At that time, nobody knew who I was. He was also talking about another guy who’s also Chechen. I don’t remember his name, but he told us he knocked him out in a sparring session. My mind was blowing up at the moment, but I’m living here very close to him. I was thinking that I would catch him in the streets or at the gym and beat him up. This is what he deserved.”
According to Chimaev he was stopped by security at the airport for unknown reasons but then was allowed to continue on his way only to be stopped again, however once stopped for the second time he was taken, jailed then deported back home without an explanation despite having the correct documentation.
“Yes, I landed in Ireland and waited in an airport,” Chimaev said. “First, they stopped me a while, and then slightly they told me to go. Then I was going out. When I was going out from the airport, they stopped me again. That time, there were guys literally in uniform. … Yes, there were (special forces), and they told me, ‘You cannot go anywhere.’ But I didn’t get what they meant. At that time, my English was very bad. Even right now, it’s not that good. … They drove me to the police station and kept me for eight hours.
“No, there wasn’t any interrogation at all. I was just kept in a cell. I waited for maybe eight or nine hours. I was doing push-ups and squats. They didn’t even bring me food. Then after a while, they told me, ‘You have to go back to Sweden.’ They continued, ‘We’ll bring you back to the airport where the plane is waiting for you.’ They brought me back to airport and sent me back home.”
Khamzat said his trip to Ireland was to inflict physical harm on McGregor to not only defend Khabibs honor but more importantly to defend the honor of all the Chechen people. Chimaev also said he was going to pretend he was there to help him prepare for Khabib at UFC229.
“Honestly speaking, I wanted to beat him up,” Chimaev said. “Many people thought I was coming there to help him to prepare for Khabib. … Not only for Khabib. I was coming there to protect our pride and honor. I was going there for all of us. If that would not have happened, I would have maybe thrown, I don’t know, some object. … I think I was able to stand for myself.”
Dana White is hoping to book a fight for Khamzat Chimaev so the fans can see him back in the Octagon in August, fingers crossed
