Chael Sonnen doesn’t think Khamzat Chimaev’s questionable cardio will be a concern at UFC 319.
On August 16, Chimaev will once again step into the main event spotlight at UFC 319 for a highly anticipated title clash with reigning and defending middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis.
‘Borz’ goes into the bout as a 2-to-1 favorite on the sportsbooks, but predictions for the bout are fairly unanimous, with pundits believing that the longer the fight goes, the more it favors the champ.
However, Sonnen tends to disagree.
“Chimaev has got to get him down,” Sonnen told MMA Junkie. “He can’t just go fight him anywhere. Then there’s a big question around Chimaev’s conditioning. I don’t know if that’s fair. We’ve seen Chimaev get exhausted. Fedor (Emelianenko) used to get exhausted, but he never stopped. It never slowed him down. And it’s the same thing with Chimaev.
“I don’t think it’s fair to question his conditioning. I think he’s got a bunch of energy and he uses it all, which is what he’s supposed to do. That’s going to get tested and we are going to find out if that’s accurate. I am also giving Dricus a lot better of a look than I was when Chimaev beat Whittaker and the fight got announced.”
Will Khamzat Chimaev’s cardio hold up against ‘DDP’?
Chimaev typically comes bursting out of the gate, looking to dominate early. That strategy worked wonders against Kevin Holland and Robert Whittaker, but ‘Borz’ noticeably struggled in his bouts against Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman — both of which went the distance.
‘Borz’ ultimately beat Burns and Usman, but his fading gas tank in the later rounds has fans questioning how he’ll hold up against the unrelenting attack of du Plessis.
Luckily, we won’t have to wait much longer to find out.
