Khamzat Chimaev Doubled Down in One Area to Capture Title And Can Be Exploited, According to Middleweight Contender

Marvin Vettori thinks it’s just a matter of time before Khamzat Chimaev runs into somebody he can’t bully.

‘Borz’ delivered one of the most dominant performances in UFC title fight history, handily defeating Dricus Du Plessis in August to claim the undisputed middleweight world championship and move his record to a perfect 15-0.

Thus far, Chimaev has looked damn near perfect in his UFC run, aside from a cardio issue against Kamaru Usman that didn’t appear to be an issue against ‘DDP.

But despite that, Vettori remains confident that Chimaev’s one-note game plans will eventually fail.

“He just ragdolled him for like five rounds, and the guy couldn’t stand back up,” Vettori told Helen Yee while discussing Chimaev’s performance against Du Plessis. “I just think that like, everybody was like… he’s a great wrestler. He doubled down in wrestling; you can see on his training, he was just training with all the best wrestlers there in Chechnya and stuff. So he definitely doubled down on the wrestling.

“But then I still think a lot of people—because now there’s a lot of grapplers in the top ten, top five in my division—I still think they’re going to give him problems because if just DDP got exposed to the fact that he couldn’t really get back up, didn’t really have a game on getting back up to his feet, I know some of these guys definitely know how. They’re going to… he’ll have to spend much more energy, you know?”​

Coming up short in his last three, Vettori has some work to do before he can hope to earn another opportunity at the 185-pound crown.

Marvin Vettori needs a win if he hopes to challenge Khamzat Chimaev

‘The Italian Dream’ will look to get back to his winning ways on December 6 when the promotion presents UFC 223, featuring two can’t-miss title fights and a bout between Vettori and Brazilian standout Bruno Ferreira.

Check out the current lineup for UFC 323 below:

UFC 323 PPV Main Card on ESPN+ PPV (10 p.m. ET):

Merab Dvalishvili(c) vs. Petr Yan – UFC bantamweight championship
Alexandre Pantoja(c) vs. Joshua Van – UFC flyweight championship
Henry Cejudo vs. Payton Talbott
Jan Błachowicz vs. Bogdan Guskov
Brandon Moreno vs. Tatsuro Taira

UFC 323 Prelims Card On ESPN, ESPN+ (8 p.m. ET):

Marvin Vettori vs. Brunno Ferreira
Grant Dawson vs. Manuel Torres
Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Antonio Trocoli
Chris Duncan vs. Terrance McKinney
Maycee Barber vs. Karine Silva
Nazim Sadykhov vs. Fares Ziam

Card subject to change.