Henry Cejudo Backs Khamzat Chimaev To ‘Easily’ Beat Israel Adesanya
Former dual weight UFC champion Henry Cejudo thinks Khamzat Chimaev is the man who will end Israel Adesanya’s middleweight dominance.
‘Stylebender’ successfully defended his 185lb strap this past weekend with a unanimous decision victory over the former champ, Robert Whittaker at UFC 271.
Jared Cannonier appears to be next in line for a shot at Adesanya after he scored an impressive second-round TKO win over Derek Brunson on the UFC 271 undercard.
During a recent episode of “The Triple C & Schmo Show.”, Cejudo claimed that the man who will dethrone Adesanya is streaking welterweight prospect Khamzat Chimaev.
“The guy that will stop (Adesanya) is actually a (170) pounder, and his name is Khamzat Chimaev,” Cejudo said. “I believe Chimaev is just a whole other animal, dude. His wrestling, his confidence. I mean, this dude – from what I’ve heard from a lot of people, this dude literally trains like nobody has ever seen before. When you’re a wrestler, and you’re like that, and he’s driven, I don’t think there’s nobody on the planet … I can see him easily beating Israel Adesanya.”
He continued, “This is the reason why: Because he can take him down, and he has that Khabib (Nurmagomedov) control. (Transcribed by MMA Junkie)
Whittaker was able to take Adesanya down four times at UFC 271 but the Nigerian popped back up to his feet on each occasion. Adesanya’s lone loss came up at light-heavyweight in a close fight with Jan Blachowicz who utilized his grappling in the latter rounds to secure a decision victory.
Chimaev has been dominant on the ground since joining the UFC in 2020. The Wolf has won three of his four fights in the Octagon by using his wrestling skills to secure submission or TKO finishes on the floor.
