On August 16, two huge personalities in Chicago will collide with the UFC Middleweight title on the line.
To prepare for his first chance of grabbing UFC Gold, Khamzat Chimaev has removed any distractions through training in the mountain village of Kislovodsk.
The champion, Dricus Du Plessis, is convinced that he will be the first man to beat his challenger, but many fans have the same concern on his way to this matchup.
'Borz' brings a dreaded wrestling skill set to the table that he will certainly try to implement when he returns to the United Center.
Although some may argue for why Du Plessis will be able to stop the wrestling of Chimaev, others are less convinced after viewing some new images.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Fans praise Khamzat Chimaev after looking at images of him struggling with Abdulrashid Sadulaev
In a video posted on his Instagram, Khamzat Chimaev worked for some time with one of the most praised wrestlers in the world today.
Abdulrashid Sadulaev has a decent trophy cabinet with two Olympic gold medals and six world championships to his name.
'The Russian Tank' has done it all at 29 years old and is only one of the two competitors who have won world titles in three different weight classes.
Chimaev may not have anywhere near the same references, although he has three Swedish freestyle national championships under his belt, but he is generally considered one of the best wrestlers in MMA.
Although some fans claimed, via a repost of the video on X (formerly Twitter), Sadulaev easily went on Chimaev and played the video with him, the video nevertheless left many people.
'DDP is in trouble'
'Holding his own against one of the best wrestlers that is alive, that is cool'
“There are levels for this, Khamzat will be the champion.”
“Bye Dricus. It has been real. '
'DDP is destroyed'
'Sadulaev plays with him, but this is very impressive'
Dricus Du Plessis does not have the best Takedown defense record
With Dricus Du Plessis who is known for his uncomfortable striking style, the middleweight champion is great in crossing distance and the guessing of opponents.
'Stillknocks' has also proven that he is a more than capable grappler, but his Takedown defense is not particularly impressive based on statistics alone.
The Takedown -secondary and defense of Du Plessis are both 50%, although it has only been removed three times according to UFC statistics.
Opponent Die Drus Du Persis Downeventnumber of Takedowns Nam Landedrobert Whittakerufc 2901DEREK Brunsonufc 2851Darren Tillufc 2821
It is also worth taking other factors that can influence these figures, as Du Plessis gets tired after being over in some of his earlier fights.