Getty UFC Announcer Michael Bisping looks on during UFC Fight Night.
Ex-UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping believes Khamzat Chimaev could be the first ever three-division champion.
The top-ranked welterweight contender is coming off an impressive victory over former foe Kevin Holland this past Saturday. Chimaev was scheduled to take on Nate Diaz in the headlining bout but came in overweight, missing the agreed 170-pound limit by a massive seven and a half pounds. He needed to get paired up with Holland to serve as the new co-main event of UFC 279.
Chimaev came out firing from the opening second and scored another first-round finish by submission over Holland. It marked his fourth outing under the banner where he did not absorb a single significant strike.
Bisping, the former fighter turned commentator and analyst, reckons Chimaev could create history by becoming the first athlete to win gold in three separate divisions.
“Can Khamzat Chimaev become the UFC’s first-ever three-division champion?” Bisping said in a video uploaded to his YouTube account. “That’s a tall order but you got to dream big and he said that he’s here to smash everybody. I’m telling you I think there is a way he could do that.
“Now, you’re probably thinking Bisping’s being sold the hype, he’s drinking the kool-aid, he’s riding his d***, whatever you want to say. But I’m telling you there is a very good possibility.”
‘The Count’ argued that the relative ease with which Chimaev defeated his opponents is unlike anything we have seen before.
“He’s had six fights in the UFC. Other than the fight with Gilbert Burns, he’s only absorbed two strikes. That is ridiculous, that is the type of guy we are dealing with here and that’s why I think we might see him go out there and become a three-weight division champion.”
“The way that he is taking everybody out, the ease in which he is predominantly doing so,” Bisping added. “No one’s ever done that to Kevin Holland. Kevin Holland has been in there with some of the best middleweights on the planet… what he did there, he sets the imagination on fire, doesn’t it? It’s these type of fighters, these type of people that Dana White really loves.
“If you’ve got the ability to back it up, the star power, and people are going to tune in and they’re going to watch, and everyone involved makes a s*** ton of money, well, the UFC are going to give it a go.”
Bisping Doesn’t Think Chimaev Needs To Move Up to Middleweight
There are few sins as grave as missed weight in the eyes of the MMA community, but Bisping pushed back on the hate Chimaev received after coming in overweight. He recounted the struggles of former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and argued that “Borz” need not move up to the 185-pound division.
“Of course, he missed weight at the weekend, very badly,” Bisping said. “He came in at 7.5 pounds over and a lot of people are saying that he needs to be forced to move up to middleweight. I don’t necessarily think so.
“Khabib Nurmagomedov, the lightweight GOAT, some people have him as the greatest of all time, he missed weight or was forced to stop cutting weight four times. He still became the champ, the lightweight GOAT. So, the fact that Khamzat came in and missed weight one time, to be making those kinds of statements so far, it’s not really fair if you compare him against Khabib.”
Bisping Believes UFC Has Found Its ‘Supervillain’
Fans were not happy with Chimaev and expressed their disapproval every time Chimaev made an appearance, at the weigh-ins, during his walkout, and in his post-fight interview. Bisping, who has experience playing a heel, gave his take on what he saw from the crowd.
“The UFC officially has a new supervillain,” Bisping said via MMA Junkie. “I am, of course, talking about Khamzat Chimaev, ‘Borz,’ the ‘Wolf.’ Come on, when he walked out to that fight, the boos from the crowd were like nothing I’ve ever heard. I used to get booed a fair bit, as well, but that took the biscuit. That was mental.”
Bisping admitted he likes the ‘bad guy‘ persona more for Chimaev.
“He didn’t give a sh*t, and then he’s flipping off the crowd, then he’s talking sh*t, and he’s talking about killing people left, right and center. Listen, I absolutely love it. It brings a lot of controversy, it brings eyeballs, and it’s very, very polarizing. … He’s a legit bad guy. He’s straight out of a Bond movie.”