Although aimed at his own upcoming championship fight, Khamzat Chimaev has played the role of matchmaker for the title photo of another UFC division.
Chimaev recently hit the scales for UFC 319 and made his long -awaited first title shot in the promotion officer, five years after announcing his arrival with two wins in record time.
The path to the gold is far from simple for 'Borz', but he will try to make the wait in the main event on Saturday, so that Chimaev Drica Du Plessis will challenge in Chicago's United Center.
But for the long -awaited collision of top middle weights that are unbeaten in the UFC, Chimaev recently watched the title photo in another division, in which a man is involved with whom the Chechen star has become close in recent weeks …
Khamzat Chimaev wants UFC Ilia Topuria vs Arman Tsarukyan to book
One of the recent training partners of Chimaev has been in a difficult situation lately.
The late withdrawal of Arman Tsarukyan from UFC 311 left the promotion for a new Main Event Matchup and Challenger for Islam Makhachev, and cost the Russian arms his deserved title shot.
The top lightweight competition made weight as the back -uper for the main event of UFC 317, which was concluded with Ilia Topuria who eliminated Charles Oliveira to become a champion on 155 pounds. Since then, Tsarukyan has often rejected his claim on the next shot by the new title holder.
But while 'El Matador' looks at Justin Gaethje or Paddy Pimblett instead for his first lightweight title defense, Chimaev insists that the right opponent is 'Akhalkalakets'.
“I hope so,” Chimaev told the Jaxxon -Podcast YouTube channel when he was asked if he has Topuria and Tsarukyan in 2025.
“It's a good fight for both boys. If you ask me, we need to know who is the best hunter in the world.
“Both boys are the best hunters,” Chimaev continued. “So I would like to look at that fight. It's a crazy fight.
“Arman has good movements and he has good stairs, good struggling. The other man (Topuria) has good jiu-jitsu, good (punches), so you know? So it would be cool to see that fight.”
Arman Tsarukyan helped Khamzat Chimaev to prepare for UFC 319
The UFC 319 title Challenger has previously been trained with Topuria in Sweden and has become more recently familiar with the talents of Tsarukyan and works behind the scenes.
Tsarukyan helped Chimaev in the last part of his camp for Saturday's long -awaited collision in Chicago.
The top lightweight competition has therefore had a strong insight into the preparation of the Chechen Ster and Tsarukyan discussed one of the largest Chimaev questions that fans had in the run-up to the PPV of 16 August.
Has his cardio been improved?
“In this camp, Khamzat has improved his recovery capacity and strength and conditioning,” Tsarukyan told Kamil Gadzhiev (translated by Red Corner MMA).
“He has worked on his strength and conditioning twice a week, in addition to standing out sparring sessions and wrestling. He works with a new strength and conditioning coach (for his) cardio.
“So I believe in this coming fight, his cardio must be very good,” Tsarukyan added. “He was tested every day (in that area). His recovery capacity is a device that shows his recovery statistics every morning immediately after he finishes.”