Is Khamzat Chimaev’s cautious performance against Du Plessis enough to justify a superfight with Alex Pereira?

Khamzat Chimaev is a 31-year-old Russian-Emirati professional mixed martial artist and freestyle wrestler. Since entering the professional ranks in 2018, he has won six fights by knockout and six by submission, including a face crank, heel hooks, D'Arce chokes, and rear-naked chokes. His nickname, "Borz," means "Wolf" in Chechen, and nine of his fights have ended in the first round.

What shook fans was to see their unstoppable wrestling hero's performance against Dricus Du Plessis, cautious and safety-first, rather than aggressive or dominating. This has questioned his upcoming matchup with Alex Pereira. Chimaev's ‘bear-hugging’ style of wrestling and position control has lost spacks amongst his fans. They believe that such a strategy would not be effective against a powerful, high-risk striker like Alex Pereira.

An incident happened right after Alex Pereira defeated Magomed Ankalaev to win the championship. Khamzat Chimaev immediately demanded a light heavyweight title match, sparking the exchange. Instead, Pereira turned his attention to a possible White House fight with Jon Jones, but Chimaev continued the discussion by suggesting a grappling contest, which the champion did not completely rule out.

Ben Askren questioned Chimaev's remarks about increasing his weight as the allegations persisted, pointing to his recent welterweight appearances. Additionally, he cited Chimaev's careful strategy against Dricus Du Plessis, implying that a vulnerability was revealed by avoiding high-risk inputs.

Positional control is not very safe against a striker such as Pereira. Even though both fighters seem open to a battle, Chimaev may find it challenging to engage in longer grappling exchanges due to his size advantage and ability to stop fights with a single clean strike.

What made Khamzat Chimaev accept the challenge from Alex Pereira?

After "Poatan's recent Ankalaev victory," "Borz" had a clear plan to derail Pereira and turn his focus back onto him. Alex Pereira did not shy away from a challenge. However, he prevented Chimaev from controlling the story this time. Rather, he proposed a grappling fight outside of the UFC, where he stands to win greatly and has nothing to lose.

There were only two choices available to Chimaev: accept the round or refuse it and risk having his reputation harmed online. It's easy to figure out which choice he chose. As he replied to Glover Teixeira, "Let's go, I can submit you both on the same night," he actually intensified the situation and added still another twist. Easy cash

Jon Jones also remains part of the conversation, having generated fan excitement with the possibility of a long-anticipated return at a White House event. Despite Dana White’s reservations, Alex Pereira has continued to express interest in facing him.

Also Read: UFC chaos: Khamzat Chimaev confirms Dricus Du Plessis' injury news, Paddy Pimblett warns Belal Muhammad, Alex Pereira becomes viral bunny

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