The credentials of rising UFC star Khamzat Chimaev have been validated by former title challenger Darren Till, according to Michael Bisping.
Chimaev has gone 4-0 in the UFC since debuting in 2020, finishing all of his opponents to improve his overall record to 10-0 (6 knockouts, 4 submissions). All of the Russian born-Swede’s fights have ended in the first or second round.
Remarkably, the 27-year-old has absorbed just one significant strike in those four contests, the most recent of which was a first-round submission win against Li Jingliang that saw Chimaev enter the UFC’s top 15 at welterweight – though he has also fought at middleweight in the promotion.
Chimaev’s dominant showings have led many fans to believe that he is a UFC champion-in-waiting, although “Borz” (“Wolf”) is yet to face an elite opponent. But Liverpool’s Till, who challenged for the welterweight title in 2018, has been training with Chimaev in Sweden and has apparently validated positive opinions of the up-and-comer.
Till’s compatriot Bisping, the UK’s first ever UFC champion, said on his YouTube channel: “I am hearing things about Khamzat that are truly terrifying.
“As I said, Darren Till is out there, I’ve got a bunch of friends out there in Sweden – they’re filming.
“They are calling me up and saying: ‘Holy f*****g s***, Khamzat is the real deal.’ He works his a** off, trains like a motherf****r – lifting weights, pushing everyone in the room, great stand-up, great wrestling.”
In a video on Chimaev’s YouTube channel, Till claimed after a training session that he had gotten his “a** kicked” by the Swede.
Chimaev has been linked with a fight against Gilbert Burns, who bounced back from an unsuccessful title shot against welterweight champion Kamaru Usman last year by outpointing Stephen Thompson.
Till (18-4-1), meanwhile, is without an opponent as he trains for a comeback following his submission loss to Derek Brunson last September.
That result marked the 29-year-old’s fourth loss in five fights, with the first of those defeats seeing the Briton submitted by then-welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. Till’s loss to Woodley in 2018 was the first of his professional MMA career, and the Liverpudlian moved up to middleweight one year later.