Khamzat Chimaev: What is next for the new rising star of the UFC?

Khamzat Chimaev has been on an impressive unbeaten run in the UFC so far having won all his fights in the promotion and in fact, his professional MMA career. 

He made his UFC debut in UFC Fight Island with a quick submission win over John Phillips in the Middleweight division and then made his return to the Octagon within a span of just 10 days for his second bout at Welterweight. In what proved to be another dominant victory, Chimaev landed 40 strikes in the bout and absorbed none under three minutes and won by knockout. He also made a UFC record by becoming the first fighter to win two fights under ten days and both by finishes.

Just after 2 months; at UFC VEGAS 11, he fought Gerald Meerschaert at Middleweight and won via knockout in just 17 Seconds taking his UFC record to 3-0. Over the course of his fights, Chimaev has shown a well-rounded game having dominated all the opponents that crossed his path. So, what’s next for the new rising star of the UFC?

Prior to his last fight, there were reports which stated that Chimaev was keen to take on Demian Maia in a Welterweight bout. Dana White ended this rumor when he was asked at the UFC 253 press conference about the same. The UFC President, however, has confirmed that Chimaev will be fighting in a five-round main event with a ranked opponent next.

So the question will be: Who can it be, will it be a Top 5 or Top 10 Ranked opponent?

Reports of a fight between Chimaev and Steven ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson began circulating over the internet but then again, these rumors were quickly shut down by ‘Wonderboy’, who responded by saying that the fight doesn’t make sense for him right now.

“No, I’m not fighting him, man. I mean, it just doesn’t make sense for me at this point. I’m ranked No.5 to fight a guy who is unranked? I have fought a lot of guys to get where I’m at and a lot of other fighters fought a lot of guys to get where they’re at so I don’t see why it’s okay for him to jump past everybody.”  Wonderboy said during a recent Youtube live stream. 

Nevertheless, it is confirmed that Khamzat will be facing a ranked opponent next, but it would be suggestive that he will be fighting one of the guys from the Top ten.

If the bout is at Middleweight then, Derek Brunson is a fit match for him because Derek Brunson has faced newcomers in the UFC before as well and stopped them from passing the ranked line. If the scheduled fight is at Welterweight, then Neil Magny is ready for this challenge. Neil Magny, who is quite active on his social media channels commented on a post that asked the public about the next possible opponent of Chimaev. 

Magny left an upright response on the query and stated that he is ready to fight him in November. “What’s the hold-up? I’m ready to scrap any day in November.”

Neil Magny has an impressive 24-7 record in MMA, and if he becomes the one to fight Chimaev, then he might as well prove to be a strong challenge for Chimaev and might put a halt to the speedy stardom of Khamzat Chimaev. Who should Chimaev fight next? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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