Outside Source
This was a familiar predicament for Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319. | Getty/UFC
Apparently Dricus Du Plessis isn’t the first person to struggle to escape Khamzat Chimaev’s vaunted crucifix.
Chimaev trapped the South African multiple times en route to a dominant unanimous decision triumph in the UFC 319 headliner at the United Center in Chicago on Saturday night. The final statistics in the championship victory were jarring: Chimaev secured 12 of 17 takedown attempts, logged 21:40 total control time and outlanded his opponent by a 529-to-45 count in total strikes. Much of that striking offense occurred from the crucifix position, which “Borz” says he has used on many a training partner over the years.
“That’s just having fun with my friends. I take them in this position, holding them for 25 minutes, one hour sometimes. Make them humble,” Chimaev said at the post-fight press conference.
“Nobody can take me down, hold me down. So take them to the gym, hold them down there with this position. I do this a lot.”
While the common line of thought heading into UFC 319 was that Chimaev would struggle the longer the fight lasted, that wasn’t anywhere near the truth on Saturday night. Though Du Plessis had a brief glimmer of hope in the final round, he was largely overwhelmed for 25 minutes.
Chimaev Proved Point at UFC 319
It was Chimaev’s answer to critics of his stamina, though he claims that’s never been a concern.
“I don’t care what people think,” Chimaev said. “I’m doing my thing. How many strikes did I land on him? How many takedowns I had there? I didn’t get out. Now they know.”
Chimaev looks like a daunting task for any of the remaining contenders in the UFC’s middleweight division. This includes the likes of Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho, who will meet in the UFC Paris headliner, as well as Anthony Hernandez and Reinier de Ridder. “Borz” doesn’t have a preference as long as the bottom line is met.
“I don’t care about these things,” Chimaev said. “Whoever they give the money, I’ll fight anyone.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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