Former UFC Champion Calls Khamzat Chimaev’s Technique ‘Perfect’

Demetrious Johnson thinks Khamzat Chimaev’s technique is pretty much perfect.

After amassing an unblemished 14-0 record, ‘Borz’ will look to climb to the top of the middleweight mountain when he challenges the division’s reigning and defending champion, Dricus du Plessis, at UFC 319 in Chicago.

Chimaev initially kickstarted his UFC run as a welterweight. Since making the move to 185, he’s put together a trio of impressive wins, including a majority decision W over Kamaru Usman and a teeth-shattering submission victory against Robert Whittaker in October.

His picture-perfect performance against ‘The Reaper’ was good enough to land him as the No. 3 ranked contender in the division, setting the stage for his title tilt with the South African sensation.

“Everything he’s doing is technically sound, perfect, correct—forcing his opponent to make a bad mistake trying to post,” Johnson said of Chimaev on his YouTube channel. “Take the post away, get it up, and Rob Whittaker didn’t get choked out because he wasn’t on the neck: he neck cranked him and broke his bottom jaw or the teeth.

“The biggest thing you take away from this is when he is attacking in the grappling aspect, taking the post away, driving his weight on top of you, always transitioning and not really being married to one position.”

Thus far, du Plessis has only been taken down three times in his UFC career, but he’s never faced a grappler as ferocious as Chimaev.

“When you look at Khamzat, you have to look at him—when he jumps on you, you better be ready for the best, you better have the best wrestling, anti-wrestling, and fighting skill ready to rock and roll, because once he locks on, he’s going to be looking to go to that position, which I call home,” Johnson continued. “He’s going to sit there and wait and then see what you’re going to do.”