Khamzat Chimaev is the brand new king of the UFC middleweight division, however one rising contender thinks he can crack the code.
Chimaev turned in a stellar efficiency in opposition to Dricus du Plessis within the UFC 319 headliner. Going into the UFC middleweight title combat, many questioned Chimaev’s fuel tank. Because it turned out, “Borz” had no situation maintaining management of du Plessis for 5 rounds. The results of Chimaev’s very good grappling was a unanimous choice win and his first UFC championship.
Not everybody was gushing over Chimaev’s displaying, nonetheless. Throughout a chat with Carlos Contreras Legaspi for ESPN Deportes, Anthony Hernandez made it clear that he feels he can resolve the puzzle of the newly minted UFC Middleweight Champion.
Anthony Hernández thinks he can shut down Khamzat Chimaev: “I can wrestle I can do jiujitsu I can cease all of the shit. Name me fot the combat”
By way of @ESPNDeportes #UFC319 pic.twitter.com/0UXxksgLbh
— Carlos Contreras Legaspi 🦁 (@CCLegaspi) August 17, 2025
“Congratulations to him,” Hernandez mentioned. “It was a [expletive] fairly boring combat, I’m not going to lie. Name me for the combat. I can wrestle, I can do jiu-jitsu, I can cease all his [expletive], and I can shut him down. With my fuel tank, I’ll drown him, I promise. I’ll make him [expletive] work. So, name me. Maintain me in thoughts, guys and I believe you guys can have a brand new [expletive] Mexican American champion.”
Hernandez is contemporary off a fourth-round submission end over Roman Dolidze. The victory prolonged “Fluffy’s” successful streak to eight. Some imagine Hernandez’s fashion might make issues fascinating in opposition to Chimaev, given he has some grappling experience. Whether or not or not it’ll be sufficient to thwart the relentless wrestling of “Borz” stays to be seen.
There are many viable choices for Chimaev’s first challenger. Reinier de Ridder might be subsequent in line after defeating Robert Whittaker. One can also’t rule out the winner of Nassourdine Imavov vs. Caio Borralho getting dibs on a 185-pound title alternative. Imavov and Borralho will collide in the primary occasion of UFC Paris on Sept. 6.
