Khamzat Chimaev doesn’t imagine youngsters needs to be studying MMA.
‘Borz’ will look to seize his first world title this Saturday night time in Chicago when he challenges reigning and defending middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis at UFC 319.
Whereas he’s gearing as much as win gold contained in the Octagon, Chimaev is trying to mannequin the subsequent era of fight sports activities stars after not too long ago opening up a fitness center for youths in his native Chechnya.
Curiously, Chimaev didn’t trend the brand new coaching middle with an MMA cage. When requested why throughout Wednesday’s UFC 319 media day, ‘Borz’ posited that kids ought to deal with one sport at a time fairly than one which encompasses a number of disciplines.
Plus, youngsters punching one another within the face simply seems like a foul thought.
“I don’t assume so this MMA may be good for the youngsters as a result of we punching within the face, we broke one another, you already know,” Chimaev stated. “So grappling, kickboxing, boxing, all of the sports activities in a single sport. that is wonderful sport however not for the youngsters. So I feel it needs to be like at the very least 15 years to coach some completely different sports activities. , boxing or judo or wrestling, grappling, there a whole lot of completely different sports activities for the younger boys.”
Chimaev goes into UFC 319 with an ideal 14-0 document, eight of these wins coming below the UFC banner. His opponent, Dricus du Plessis, can also be unbeaten contained in the Octagon, profitable 9 straight fights — seven of which he opened because the underdog.
Saturday’s scrap in ‘Chi-City’ can be no completely different as Chimaev is at the moment favored to depart with the middleweight title by a margin of 2-to-1.
