Khamzat Chimaev — remember the name.- The unbeaten fighter only made his
UFC debut last week, but won so dominantly he demanded a second bout on "Fight Island ." - His latest victory Sunday was more dominant as he picked his opponent Rhys McKee up like a baby, dragged him around the cage, and then ground-and-pounded him until the ref called a first round finish.
- Chimaev is "a star in the making" for the UFC, the MMA and boxing reporter Kevin Iole tweeted.
FIGHT ISLAND — A Russian UFC athlete produced a perfect fight, won his second bout in a record 10 days, and is now an undeniable "star in the making" for the world leading mixed martial arts firm.
Khamzat Chimaev has become synonymous with the UFC's "Fight Island" project, an ambitious month-long and four event residency on a quarantined area of Yas Island, built in conjunction with the Abu Dhabi tourism board to provide the UFC with an environment in which it can hold international events during the coronavirus pandemic.
Chimaev hasn't just fought once on "Fight Island" — he's fought twice, and his second performance Sunday was even more devastating than his victory last week.
In his most recent bout, Chimaev manhandled Rhys McKee. Within seconds of the fight starting, Chimaev had made his way over to the opposite corner, picked McKee up like he was a baby, carried him to another side of the Octagon fence, and then dragged him to the floor.
From there, he inflicted nasty ground-and-pound on his opponent. It was a display so violent and dominant, that he landed 68 of his 98 strike attempts (69%) compare to McKee's zero strikes landed from zero attempted.
Read that sentence again. McKee didn't even have a chance to throw one punch, before Chimaev established and maintained ruthless dominance.
Watch Chimaev's stoppage win here:
—UFC (@ufc) July 26, 2020
Sunday's first round finish for Chimaev followed a July 16 second round win in which he landed 124 of his 140 shots attempted against John Phillips. His opponent, in contrast, landed just two strikes.
The nature of Chimaev's wins at "Fight Island" have put the welterweight and middleweight divisions on notice, and the fighter said after his latest win that he's happy to smash his way through both weight classes as his introduction to the UFC was apparently too easy.
"I like this, I want to do more," Chimaev said. "It was too easy for me … today, I'm too fast. I didn't feel like I fight, it was one second, but I need this, I want to fight.
"Fighting is fighting. I do sparring every day, this is like sparring for me. Next, one month easy training, relax, see my mom, then start again, hard work, take some opponents and smash them. Everybody in my division, I'm going to smash them."
Chimaev, another extraordinarily gifted fighter from the Dagestan region in Russia, has been called "KhaBIG" by RT Sport because of his similarity to the UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Chimaev, though, is a bigger version of Nurmagomedov and is all too happy to engage in stand-up as well as fighting on the mat.
After his thrilling win Sunday, a victory which advances his record to eight wins (five knockouts and three submissions) unbeaten, Chimaev said: "Give me the champion at 84 kilos (185-pounds, middleweight), 77 kilos (170-pounds, welterweight).
"I'm going to smash both. Same day."
Considering the extraordinary start to his UFC career, there may be few who disagree with him.
The boxing and MMA reporter at Yahoo Sport, Kevin Iole, even said the UFC could soon have a new star on its hands.
"A masterful performance by Chimaev," Iole tweeted. "Takes him down seconds into the fight and pummels him on the ground. the dude is a massive problem. This is a star in the making."
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