Daniel Cormier does not agree with Khamzat Chimaev's Pond-for-Pond Placement after UFC 319.
Chimaev laid his name under the elite champions who currently participated in the leading promotion of MMA when he added a prominent scalp to his CV in Chicago last Saturday.
The undefeated Chechenstar headed UFC 319 in competition for the middleweight title, where Chimaev Drus du Plessis dominated to make the last obstacle in his pursuit of golden look remarkably simple.
In addition to taking off to the mountain top at 185 pounds, the result 'Borz' moved to another peak. Chimaev entered the pound-for-pound rankings of the UFC at number 4, but one legend would have raised him even higher.
Daniel Cormier would place Khamzat Chimaev in the P4P top 3 above Merab Dvalishvili
The arrival of Chimaev High on the P4P ladder immediately caused a stir, whereby many questioned his high placement. In particular, there were enough furious to see 'Borz' above flying weight King Alexandre Pantoja.
But Daniel Cormier went one step further when he gave his opinion about the issue during an episode of his pound 4 pound show on ESPN MMA's YouTube channel, which suggests that Chimaev should also be above Bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili champion.
“I think Chael should be number three,” said Cormier. “What it means, pound-for-pound, is that your fighting style transcends weight classes.
“Merab did not fight in a different weight class. Khamzat Chimaev was successful with a very high level at a very high level, was about to go up, a champion is going to be there. He defeated Kamaru Usman, who was the champion at the time he was aware of the ranking.
“Because of those things, I think he is exactly in line with Islam and Ilia Topuria, right for Merab Dvalishvili,” Cormier added.
“Merab only fought against bantam weight. Admittedly, he had more successful than someone we have seen in a long time, it is still only one weight class.”
Merab Dvalishvili would place itself under another UFC champion
While Cormier has called for Chimaev to be stimulated above Dvalishvili, 'The Machine' itself has argued for another reigning UFC champion to surpass him.
Dvalishvili was praised for his modest rankings while speaking on the Ariel Helwani show in July. 'The machine' not only placed Topuria and Makhachev above him, but he also ranked Pantoja as number 3 in the pound-for-pound pecking order.
“At the moment I will say Ilia. Number one,” said Dvalishhvili. “Number two, Islam.
“I will say number three, Pantoja … number four is good (for me).
“I have to be (modest) because I don't want to overlook my opponents,” Dvalishvili added.