Khamzat Chimaev won his 3rd UFC fight in 66 days at UFC Las Vegas 11. He knocked out Gerald Meerschaert in just 17 seconds on Saturday night. The 26-year-old from Chechnya, Russia has been compared to UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, but Chimaev rejected those comparisons at the post-event press conference.
“Everybody says you (are) Khabib number 2, something like that but I am Khamzat. I can knock out people, submit the people, smash the people. Everything, I have everything.”
He was then asked about his upcoming fight against Damian Maia. Chimaev says that if he can beat Maia, it shows that he has the best jiu-jitsu in MMA.
“He’s the best jiu-jitsu in MMA,” Chimaev said about Maia. “Stop him, if I choke him out, then I have the best jiu-jitsu in MMA, we’ll see!”
Asked if he is ready to be in the conversation for a title shot already, Chimaev sounded confident.
“Of course, why not? I did hard work for that, I’m ready,” he said.
Dana White also praised Chimaev during the post-event press conference.
“The guy’s special. I’ve been in this game my whole life, I’ve never seen anything like him. He’s special, he’s different and he wants to fight again,” Dana White said of Chimaev. “I’ve never been in a position where I’m like, ‘Who’s next?”
