Maia is in no way a threat to Khamzat

I don't see Khamzet losing to anyone except Usman at 170
 
Dionysian said:
Honestly, I normally ignore it, because you are right. Gilbert said he'd choke him out and obviously had no such intention. DC said he'd stand and trade with Rumble and obviously had no such intention. It happens all the time when they lie to misdirect... is normal.

But call me crazy, but I think Khamzat might seriously be THAT confident that he actually means that he'd employ the most dangerous gameplan in MMA history against Maia. Good point about his fight IQ though... I guess we'll see.
Click to expand...
He should ask Askren how that works out.
 
fortheo said:
Maia wasn't at his best against Anderson silva That silva fight is what made maia start focusing heavily on wrestling, hence why Maia went on the streak of his life soon after that fight and has since got the 7th most takedowns in UFC history.

also, please don't compare Chimaev to Prime Anderson silva. come on man. Your analysis is making tons of assumptions. Maybe you'll be right, but based off the information we have right now, you're making tons of assumptions in breaking this fight down.
Click to expand...

Even if Maia was not "at his best" he was also a decade younger than he is now with a shit ton less fight mileage on him, a point of mine which you seem to be ignoring. The Demian who went on that streak and the Demian of today aren't the same people, as much as it pains me to say that. He has lost a step. He's still technically sound, but he just isn't as fast in his transitions and his striking has only gotten worse. His conditioning has also deteriorated.

I'm not comparing Chimaev to Prime Silva, dude. I was comparing Chimaev's wrestling to that of Silva: one specific facet of each man's game as it relates to a bout against Maia. Don't twist my words. Let's not forget that this started with you trying to nitpick with me about how much of a sweat Khamzat would break stuffing Maia's takedowns.

I'm not over here making baseless presumptions. This isn't me spit-balling. Maia, realistically, has one route to victory against Chimaev: submitting him. Khamzat is a high-caliber wrestler who thus far has shown a high degree of success translating his wrestling credentials to the Octagon who also is far from ignorant of the BJJ meta. He also possesses proven heavy hands and one-shot knockout power, along with surprising accuracy for a grappling specialist. This means the ability to stuff takedowns followed by the ability to punish the person attempting them. He's 17 years younger and has had suffered less damage (though, admittedly, this also means less Octagon experience as well -- a double-edged sword). At a glance, this looks a whole lot like the kind of nightmare match-up a lot of submission specialists with mediocre striking have historically gotten the short end of the stick in. Do you disagree?

Again, I'm not saying Maia can't win. Hell, I'll probably even lay down a pick on him when the time comes. A lot of people counted him out against Askren. If Khamzat gets overconfident and tries to engage on the ground like Gunnar did instead of standing with him in order to prove a point, he might get swept and/or submitted. Even if he doesn't, maybe Demian snatches up a sub during a crazy scramble. Crazier things have happened in this sport. But it's not an outcome I would be particularly confident in based on the facts we have available to us.
 
Last edited:
PokerandMMA said:
He should ask Askren how that works out.
Click to expand...
Yup... that's why I called it the most dangerous gameplan in MMA history. Askren you could argue didn't have a choice, he's just doing what he always did to a guy that is a bad style match-up. Not like he was ignoring a K1 gameplan he had at his disposal however... no other option was there, straight up.

But if Khamzat, very likely a superior striker to Maia... CHOOSES to embrace the most dangerous aspect of the most dangerous grappler in his division (and one of the most dangerous in the entire sport)... then yes... I think it easily qualifies as the most dangerous gameplan in the sport's history.

We've seen guys trying to beat people at their own game, sure. Jon against Chael and Glover for example. But this would be another universe, especially from a guy who is currently not even ranked.
 
Dionysian said:
Yup... that's why I called it the most dangerous gameplan in MMA history. Askren you could argue didn't have a choice, he's just doing what he always did to a guy that is a bad style match-up. Not like he was ignoring a K1 gameplan he had at his disposal however... no other option was there, straight up.

But if Khamzat, very likely a superior striker to Maia... CHOOSES to embrace the most dangerous aspect of the most dangerous grappler in his division (and one of the most dangerous in the entire sport)... then yes... I think it easily qualifies as the most dangerous gameplan in the sport's history.

We've seen guys trying to beat people at their own game, sure. Jon against Chael and Glover for example. But this would be another universe, especially from a guy who is currently not even ranked.
Click to expand...
Honestly I think probably 80-85% of the time if he goes to the ground with Maia and willingly stays there he's getting subbed. I'm into the Khamzat hype but he doesn't have the pedigree of Demian. He should be smart and avoid takedowns and KO Maia.
 
Safton said:
Even if Maia was not "at his best" he was also a decade younger than he is now with a shit ton less fight mileage on him, a point of mine which you seem to be ignoring. The Demian who went on that streak and the Demian of today aren't the same people, as much as it pains me to say that. He has lost a step. He's still technically sound, but he just isn't as fast in his transitions and his striking has only gotten worse. His conditioning has also deteriorated.

I'm not comparing Chimaev to Prime Silva, dude. I was comparing Chimaev's wrestling to that of Silva: one specific facet of each man's game as it relates to a bout against Maia. Don't twist my words. Let's not forget that this started with you trying to nitpick with me about how much of a sweat Khamzat would break stuffing Maia's takedowns.

I'm not over here making baseless presumptions. This isn't me spit-balling. Maia, realistically, has one route to victory against Chimaev: submitting him. Khamzat is a high-caliber wrestler who thus far has shown a high degree of success translating his wrestling credentials to the Octagon who also is far from ignorant of the BJJ meta. He also possesses proven heavy hands and one-shot knockout power, along with surprising accuracy for a grappling specialist. This means the ability to stuff takedowns followed by the ability to punish the person attempting them. He's 17 years younger and has had suffered less damage (though, admittedly, this also means less experience as well -- a double-edged sword). At a glance, this looks a whole lot like the kind of nightmare match-up a lot of submission specialists with mediocre striking have historically gotten the short end of the stick in. Do you disagree?

Again, I'm not saying Maia can't win. Hell, I'll probably even lay down a pick on him when the time comes. A lot of people counted him out against Askren. If Khamzat gets overconfident and tries to engage on the ground like Gunnar did instead of standing with him in order to prove a point, he might get swept and/or submitted. Even if he doesn't, maybe Demian snatches up a sub during a crazy scramble. Crazier things have happened in this sport. But it's not an outcome I would be particularly confident in based on the facts we have available to us.
Click to expand...


I haven't seen this extensive footage of Chimaev's wrestling that you seem to have seen, so I just don't know where your confidence is coming from and I'm not sure if it's "facts" as you state. Maybe I'm missing something. I guess we'll find out, but so far he's beat nobodies and a decent journey man in Gerald. Know who else used wrestling to smash people? Askren, Fitch, Laflare, Story, sonnen, etc etc, and all of those guys at least proved it against good fighters before Maia beat them. I just haven't seen enough of chimaev yet. Yes he seems to be a good wrestler with good striking, but how good? Very average fighters would likely beat the same competition that chimaev has beaten thus far. One thing is for sure– chimaev looks promising. But I'm not going to put the cart before the horse.
 
Maia backpacks him for a RNC win or gets TKO’ed. I’d put money on Demian though, he’s too dangerous even in his old age to count out
 
fortheo said:
I haven't seen this extensive footage of Chimaev's wrestling that you seem to have seen
Click to expand...

Wrestling in general? Or just MMA wrestling? Because if it's the former, let me direct you to a post of @Beylerbey with several videos of Khamzat back when he was active in the Swedish National Freestyle Wrestling circuit:

Beylerbey said:
He's a wrestler, he's won the Swedish national championships multiple times, apparently with ease. There's quite a few wrestling videos of him on youtube. Very exciting style too, it's obvious in pretty much every wrestling video of his that he is levels above his competitors.



Click to expand...


For MMA wrestling, well, he's had three amateur fights and nine professional fights at this point. I take it you've seen the ones in the UFC. I'm pretty sure the ones from Brave CF are readily available online if you look around and mostly consist of him running wrestling clinics on his opponents, with the notable exception of Aliserkov as I mentioned earlier.

so I just don't know where your confidence is coming from and I'm not sure if it's "facts" as you state. Maybe I'm missing something.
Click to expand...

Again, no need to be so condescending. You know what I meant when I used the word "facts". I was just saying with the information available to us and the observations I've been able to make thus far.

I guess we'll find out, but so far he's beat nobodies and a decent journey man in Gerald. Know who else used wrestling to smash people? Askren, Fitch, Laflare, Story, sonnen, etc etc, and all of those guys at least proved it against good fighters before Maia beat them. I just haven't seen enough of chimaev yet. Yes he seems to be a good wrestler with good striking, but how good? Very average fighters would likely beat the same competition that chimaev has beaten thus far. One thing is for sure– chimaev looks promising. But I'm not going to put the cart before the horse.
Click to expand...

We actually agree on a lot of this. You don't understand; I've actually spent the last month or so telling people to slow their roll on the Khamzat hype train. I think the degrees that some people are hyping him up and the matches they're already saying he would dominate in are absurd, all while labeling him the uncrowned champ of two different weight classes. Like you said, he hasn't even defeated a ranked guy yet. I think he has great -- possibly even championship-caliber -- potential and is a truly unique talent. But we won't know until he takes that next step.

My entire and sole point, however, has been that Maia matches up badly against him. That's it. I just don't think Demian at his age and with his fight mileage has the goods to defeat him more often than not, given what we've seen of Khamzat so far (what little it may be). Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I've inadvertently fallen prey to the hype-train as well. But I'm just stating my opinion here.
 
Last edited:
Out of his prime and Old Maia will get all his takedowns stuffed and knocked out unfortunately

Dont think its a good match up for him at all. Maia is at the end of his career and deserves a established big name on their way out not a young hungry a up and coming fighter
 
Maaj19 said:
Lol if it touches the ground Khamzat is in trouble. Y'all must've forgot
Click to expand...
While that's true, if Maia couldn't get Woodley down I don't think he's going to get Khamzat down either. So unless Khamzat wants to take it to the mat I see Maia getting KO'd.
 
fortheo said:
I haven't seen this extensive footage of Chimaev's wrestling that you seem to have seen, so I just don't know where your confidence is coming from and I'm not sure if it's "facts" as you state. Maybe I'm missing something. I guess we'll find out, but so far he's beat nobodies and a decent journey man in Gerald. Know who else used wrestling to smash people? Askren, Fitch, Laflare, Story, sonnen, etc etc, and all of those guys at least proved it against good fighters before Maia beat them. I just haven't seen enough of chimaev yet. Yes he seems to be a good wrestler with good striking, but how good? Very average fighters would likely beat the same competition that chimaev has beaten thus far. One thing is for sure– chimaev looks promising. But I'm not going to put the cart before the horse.
Click to expand...
He's a freestyle wrestler who's a blue belt in bjj. Sounds like food for Maia to eat. Khamzat can beat Maia in the standup and avoid takedowns but if he wants to go to the ground with Demian he's going to be in a world of shit.
 
fortheo said:
He just submitted and olympic wrestler/bjj black belt last year from a transition that started with him on his back.
Click to expand...

Honestly though "BJJ BB" means next to nothing anymore and Askren looked pretty clueless(and gunshy) in that fight, got swept in a very tame fashion.
 
Carsormyr said:
While that's true, if Maia couldn't get Woodley down I don't think he's going to get Khamzat down either. So unless Khamzat wants to take it to the mat I see Maia getting KO'd.
Click to expand...
Maia will shoot then bail to guard. He nearly had Woodley but he grabbed the fence a couple of time iirc. And Khamzat is still unproven at least in that respect. He's said he wants to choke out Maia apparently so who knows what will happen. I'm excited to see it anyhow
 
Just saying. Kamzat seems to have the skills and age to ko/tko Maia standing up.
However if he decides this is a grappling match Maia chances will go up a lot and that might not be the wise move to make. I dont think Kamzat has faced anyone with Maia grappling abilities and he may be surprised...
 
If they fight standing up Khamzat will visciously KO him
If they take it to the ground Khamzat will visciously GnP him
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,236,714
Messages
55,436,753
Members
174,775
Latest member
Ruckus245

Share this page

Back
Top