Khamzat Chimaev completed the first step of building what could be a legendary legacy in the UFC last Saturday when he won the middleweight title.
On Saturday evening, Khamzat Chimaev completed what an inevitability seemed since he debuted in the UFC in 2020, when he became the middleweight champion at UFC 319.
The Chechense started showing a dominant performance against Dricus du Plessis and checked him for more than 20 minutes of the fight and put many doubts about his cardio to bed.
Despite what a dominant representation was, Chimaev, however, received some criticism of his 'boring' style and was sometimes even stuck for the wrestling game plan by the presence of the crowd.
And someone else who received very similar criticism during his legendary career in the UFC, was Khabib Nurmagomedov, who has made Chimaev comparisons for a while.
Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC
Khamzat Chimaev will create a better legacy than Khabib Nurmagomedov
During his term of office in the sport, 'The Eagle' received criticism of his wrestling-heavy fighting style, which was rejected by a more informal part of the UFC fan base.
Nevertheless, he was generally supported by MMA purists who saw his skills for what it was, a dominant cheat code.
Nurmagomedov will undoubtedly perish as one of the greatest UFC hunters of all time, perhaps the greatest, after he ended his career unbeaten on 29-0.
Something that hinders Russian enormously enormously when it comes to the goat debate is the fact that he ended his career extremely prematurely.
Khamzat Chimaev joins Khabib Nurmagomedov, Israel Adesanya and Ilia Topuria as one of the few hunters that become UFC champion and remain unbeaten 👑🔥 #ufc319 pic.twitter.com/rqmvpinmae
– Red Corner MMA (@redcorner_Mma) August 17, 2025
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The majority of Khabib's career came from when he was building his name in the UFC, against Let's Face It, not the biggest standard of competition.
And when he finally became the champion, he withdrew after just three title defenses.
That is something that Chimaev could do differently and then possible, even go better than what his Russian counterpart did.
If 'Borz' accumulates different title defenses on 185 pounds, which at the moment it seems that he will do, he has the potential to move until 205 pounds to become a double champion, and that is something that Khabib never did.
Could Chimaev be the very first triple champion ever?
'Borz' has always made it clear that he would ever want to become the first UFC Triple Champion, and if it was not for what a brutal weight would be to be shortened to 170 pounds, I would not post it beyond him.
But even if the Chechen did not complete that incredible performance and instead just came to the group of hunters to win a title in two weight departments, he could still build a better inheritance than Khabib.
Unfortunately for Khabib he fought in the era where going for double UFC titles was not very common. But at the time he did not build the same kind of legacy as the will of Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre and Jon Jones by gathering many title defenses in his weight class.
And ultimately, that is what 'The Eagle' leaves when it comes to his legacy, and after seeing the Dominance of Chimaev and the similarities he attracted with Khabib, he could complete his career in a better position.