Khamzat Chimaev didn’t just win the middleweight championship last Saturday in the UFC 319 main event. He made a statement to the division by thoroughly dominating then-champion Dricus Du Plessis.
With Chimaev’s one-sided win, former middleweight champion Michael Bisping believes we’ve entered a new ear in the division, the Khamzat Chimaev Era.
“I’m telling you right now, we’re living in the era of Khamzat Chimaev,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “I’m not going to sit here and criticize Dricus Du Plessis. I think he’s an incredible fighter and a great champion and he may very well be back, but right now we’re living in the era of Khamzat Chimaev.”
Bisping doesn’t think Chimaev being champion will be good for the weight class, but not for the reasons some might think. “The Count” only sees one fighter that he thinks has a chance to beat the Chechen.
“This will be a disaster with Khamzat Chimaev as the champion,” Bisping said. “I don’t mean because of what Din Thomas said. Thomas was like, ‘he isn’t going to be able to fight too frequently. He struggles with visas and stuff like that.’ No. When I said this is a disaster, it’s a disaster for the division because from what I see there, ain’t nobody, ain’t nobody, apart from Reinier de Ridder, ain’t nobody beating him.
“Reinier de Ridder is the only guy that has a shot because of the jiu-jitsu, because of the skills he has off his back.”
Related: Israel Adesanya reacts to Khamzat Chimaev becoming middleweight champ: ‘The division is in good hands’
While Bisping believes de Ridder creates an interesting matchup, he doesn’t see the Chimaev losing the title anytime soon.
“This is going to be probably a very long and dominant reign in the middleweight division,” Bisping said. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen a dominant wrestler like Khamzat Chimaev in the middleweight division. Typically it’s been strikers. Look at [Israel] Adesanya. Look at Anderson Silva, Rich Franklin. The list goes on. Yeah, we had Chris Weidman. He was a very good wrestler, defended the belt a few times to be fair.”
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