Tom Aspinall Blown Away By Khamzat Chimaev And His Training
UFC heavyweight Tom Aspinall isn’t one to mince words, but watching Khamzat Chimaev train had him in awe.
Chimaev and Aspinall will likely never compete against one another in the Octagon, but Aspinall was shocked watching Chimaev train while both of them were on a recent Fight Island card.
Chimaev is undefeated in his professional MMA career and is coming off arguably the most impressive performance of his time in the UFC against Li Jingliang. At UFC 267, Chimaev rag-dolled Jingliang and earned a first-round finish on the ground.
During a recent interview on Michael Bisping’s “Believe You Me” podcast, Aspinall told a story about getting to see Chimaev in action from up close.
“You can’t really avoid them at this point,” Aspinall said of Chimaev. “I mean, he’s everywhere. He’s a scary guy from what I’ve seen. He actually made his debut, I believe, on the same card as me. Or I was on the same card as him in Abu Dhabi. He was warming up with [Alexander] Gustafsson. Obviously, Gustafsson is a much bigger guy physically than Chimaev and the guy was just launching him all over the place.”
Khamzat Chimaev Has Recently Called For Fights With Top Contenders
Assuming that Aspinall’s story is true, that’s a terrifying thought for Chimaev’s possible next opponents. Chimaev has competed at welterweight and middleweight during his UFC career and has won with relative ease so far.
Chimaev has remained active on social media since his win at UFC 267. He’s called out Nate Diaz for a fight, but it sounds like Diaz doesn’t want to fight him with his relatively limited experience.
Chimaev could be on the fast track to a title shot in the UFC, and it seems like his star power is just starting to come to the surface.
What do you think is Khamzat Chimaev’s ceiling in the UFC?
