Chimaev dilema: play guard or expose the back

[Khaosan]

Dude is a one tricky pony, unfortunately he’s good at that trick. Sprawling isn’t the answer because he uses your engagement to start crawling to the back.

Lateral movement, stiff long jabs, calf kicks and feinting uppercuts/knees. Get on your bike, let him try to shoot and move side to side or try to time a jump knee if you’re cornered knowing that worst case you end up in guard where you can stall out the round.

Yes you risk losing a decision, but I don’t believe for a second that Khamzat can fight for more than 3 rounds. I also don’t believe Khamzat is dangerous in your guard.

Too bad Whittaker isn’t a Sherbro, he would have been able to just stand up otherwise.

 

[188912345]

If the only way to avoid his ground game is to be an ace in bjj, the middleweight division is pretty much fucked and he will reign for long.

Unless DDP can stop him through sheer strength.

Yes, this was also 2 and a half years ago, his confidence in his submission defense might have improved now.

Game plan was to fight on the outside, using the jab, etc, his coaches were so angry with him for just brawling in round 2 .

He might be able to brute force his way out of some tough spots, but it's a lot more difficult against someone as technically sound as Khamzat, who also seems deceptively strong.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

Has Khamzat ever been in someone's guard or is he always ragdolling them in back control? I don't recall.

He chose not to play that game with Burns

 

[Human Bass]

Can Fluffy Hernandez give Chimaev a tough fight?

Good submission defense and amazing cardio

It would be a very very fun fight.

 

[usernamee]

He chose not to play that game with Burns

yeah even when he had dropped Burns and was unloading on him all it took was Burns grabbing onto his arm once and he fucked out of there real quick

His BJJ coach who I'm sure has wrapped him up like a pretzel many times has actually competed against Burns in BJJ and beat him in very competetive matches so I'm pretty sure Chimaev was very wary of Burn jitz

But it's going to take some BJJ guy of that calibre otherwise he wont give a fuck

 

[TriangleMonkey]

All whittaker needed to do was granby

I just sent Rob this message and he and his coaching staff feel really really terrible that all they needed was a granby roll and they woulda won


You think Khamzat can’t deal with those and just let you roll under him while he still play the top

 

[Luckyme]

In a 5 round fight where people believe Chimaev has a bad gas tank it can be doable. Of course Im not talking about pulling guard, but going for it instead of back exposure

Problem is he can still rain down punches while sitting in your guard. Your only options from guard are to try and sweep or a hail mary triangle.

 

[Luckyme]

All whittaker needed to do was granby

That's literally what Kevin Holland did and still ended up getting subbed within a round.

 

[ElLunico]

Best strategy is to give him a respiratory disease early fight week.


If he shows up in the octagon you are getting smeshed!

Didn't smesh Usman or Burns. He must have had covid those fights

 

[Cheese_&_mma_lover]

That's literally what Kevin Holland did and still ended up getting subbed within a round.

yeh but it was kevin holland and his technique was wrong and he blew out his shoulder. but before that he escaped the bottom position 2 or 3 times with granby.

granby works if your good

 

[trimmin]

Just rewatched his fights thinking the same thing. If you give your back you're fucked, so maybe, since he is going to take you down, try to stay in the middle of the octagon and play guard hoping to survive and get him tired or discourage him to play the ground game since he's not advancing.

His fight with Burns was weird. He chose to be a striker in that one. Was he just being cautious because of Burns jiu jitsu?

Chimaev comes so strong that the first minutes are a mess, and if his opponent just scramble for his life instead of trying to be more composed, Chimaev will get their back/neck. (Whittaker, Holland, Li, Phillips)

Like you have to at least try to slow him down a bit and not get dragged into a high pace crazy scramble.

Of course, easier said than done...

I rewatched that fight, in the first scramble burns gets khamzat off his back with a roll and traps his arm, khamzat backs off. Second time they go down burns has guard and Khamzat is reigning down punches when burns catches the arm with his armpit and throws a very fast armbar up that Khamzat just pulls his hand out of and then backs off again. Spends the rest of the fight on his feet. I guess he just respected his Jiu jitsu.

 

[NoSmilez]

Khamzat is a BJJ guy. He has some positions he knows where he is strong vs weak at. I am sure Khamzat prefers his opponents to give up their back too.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

yeah even when he had dropped Burns and was unloading on him all it took was Burns grabbing onto his arm once and he fucked out of there real quick

His BJJ coach who I'm sure has wrapped him up like a pretzel many times has actually competed against Burns in BJJ and beat him in very competetive matches so I'm pretty sure Chimaev was very wary of Burn jitz

But it's going to take some BJJ guy of that calibre otherwise he wont give a fuck

I agree and there's not many high quality guard players at the top of any division. So it's kind of a moot point

 

[Istryker]

Would rather give up my neck then risk a GNP finish against a mutant freak.

 

[GreatSaintGuillotine]

Not a dilemma at all. Never expose your back on the ground. Any situation where you turn all your weapons away from your opponent is bad