Outside Source
In August, Khamzat Chimaev claimed the 185-pound crown by running roughshod over Dricus Du Plessis. A few months later in October, Alex Pereira secured his old light heavyweight belt back by punching out Magomed Ankalaev in 80 seconds. Since then, much of the banter and many a hypothesized matchup have considered what would happen if the unbeaten wrestler took on the former two-division champ.
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Earlier in the week, Chimaev said in an interview that he was the A-side in a theorized matchup between himself and “Poatan.” Pereira turned down Chimaev as a possible prospective foe, suggesting that Chimaev had not “earned” a shot at a weight class he had never competed. Instead, the Brazilian has largely turned his focus towards Jon Jones at heavyweight as his final obstacle to overcome.
Countryman Gregory Rodrigues is one of many that believes “Poatan” is a step too far for Chimaev, who famously went tooth-and-nail with welterweights Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman—the latter in a short-notice middleweight affair. The currently ranked middleweight is paying close attention to his division, eyeing decent stylistic clashes and the landscape as a whole. Rodrigues spoke to Sherdog about that particular pairing as well as what is next for “Robocop” in particular.
“I learned a lot from the loss to [Jared] Cannonier, I had the fight in my hands, but I lacked the psychological control to manage my energy [into] the fifth round. But four months later, I managed to knock out [Jack] Hermansson, then beat [Roman] Kopylov and reached the rankings,” he explained.
When it came to his 2026 plans, he hopes to fight in March but does not currently have a contract against anyone in particular.
“At the end of my last fight, I asked for [Israel Adesanya because he once said he saw me reaching the top of the division and fighting him,” Rodrigues stated. “It would an honor to fight him or [Robert] Whittaker, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the UFC matched me up with [Roman Dolidze], [Michael Page] ‘MVP’ or ‘Borrachinha’ [Paulo Costa]. While they haven’t decided yet, I’ve already started my pre-camp. I don’t anything in mind yet, but if I could choose, I would love to fight on Charles’ card in Vegas.”
As it pertained to the Chimaev situation, “Robocop” offered up an answer reminiscent to “not so fast, my friend” of Lee Corso fame.
“’Poatan’ is a different kind of animal,” Rodrigues said flatly. As Robelis Despaigne, who sparred with him, said, he’s a heavyweight who can fight at middleweight. I think the fight to make is ‘Poatan’ vs. Jones or ‘Poatan’ fighting for the heavyweight title. Chimaev better stay quiet at his weight class because there are a lot of tough guys wanting his head. He has to ‘make friends’ [with Pereira], not [start a problem] he won’t be able to resolve.”
“Robocop” also sees a bit of vulnerability in the undefeated fighter born in Chechnya and currently a citizen of the United Arab Emirates. There were a number of names that promptly escaped his lips as legitimate threats to Chimaev’s title reign.
“’Borralho’ [Caio Borralho] is very tactical,” Rodrigues analyzed. “There are also [other options like] [Brendan] Allen, [Reinier] de Ridder that can bring difficult questions for him too. But I think Anthony Hernandez is probably the one with a tougher game for him. He will fight [Sean] Strickland and win, [and] I think that’s a good matchup for the UFC.”
Train by Day, Joe Rogan Podcast by Night, All Day!
Count UFC commentator Joe Rogan in the camp who believe that Chimaev would flourish moving up one more division. Recently, Chimaev suggested he currently weighs over 220 pounds, although he is scheduled to undergo surgery and expects to be out for several more months. When he comes back, Rogan, who spoke about the middleweight title picture on a recent episode of “JRE MMA Show” with guest Brendan Schaub, thinks that Chimaev could shock the world one more time.
“I think he can do it,” Rogan said about Chimaev’s light heavyweight chances, transcription courtesy of MMA Junkie on Thursday. “I think he can do it if he takes time and puts weight on. Because he’s call and also the thing is these gaps in wrestling, these gaps in grappling, when a guy’s a really good grappler, and then you’re taking on Dricus, who’s really a striker. He’s a good grappler, a good jiu-jitsu guy, but there’s levels. The kind of guy like Khamzat, like man, you’ve got to be a f—ing Olympic-caliber wrestler to scrap with that guy.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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