- Joined
- May 14, 2017
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- 3,987
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Why are Strickland and Chimaev trying to rile each other up online? Didn't they get along in sparring?
"They are probably messaging each other, telling what they're gonna say next. Who knows? But yeah, they seemed to get along just fine when they were training at the gym.
I loved having Khamzat at the gym, I loved having Darren Till there. You know, they elevated the game for us so it was just nice, and everyone got along just fine so. But I get it,
now they're right there at the striking distance of fighting and maybe you kinda have to build that bad blood to then go out and fight. But as far as I saw when they were training
together everything was good."
Were you surprised by how fast Chimaev finished Robert?
"No, I wasn't surprised because I do think Khamzat is that good. What makes him so good is the blend between his level changes, his feints and his striking to wrestling shifts.
He's very good there, I mean, I've held pads for him before and just seeing him tie all of it together really makes sense. But I wouldn't have been susprised if Whittaker won either,
I think they're both elite when it comes to the weightclass."
Isn't it weird now that Chimaev is gonna be in Australia at the same time? Any need to train for it?
"Yeah. Sure, I wonder if he's gonna be the back-up. I don't know if that's a scenario they're looking for here or why he'll be there. The UFC usually lets you know like a month
or two ahead in time. Just for that reason of getting in some extra training for it, so we knew that Cannonier was gonna be the back-up for our fight with Izzy. Now we had
already fought Jared so we had an idea on what we needed to do there if that would be the case. So yeah, if they announce that Khamzat is the back-up you certainly should
have two play calls in the huddle, you know?"
Why is DDP such a hard fight?
"To me it's his heart. A 100% his heart. You know, there's this tenacity to him, there's a grittyness to him. And he self-admittedly said that not everything I do looks beautiful,
doesn't look as technical as how somebody else does it, but he just believes in everything he does. And he beliveves that he's the best at it, and is proving it time and time
again. I think his mindset and his heart, those things really carry him through. And he doesn't have that ego about him, so he listens to constructive critisism and I think that
will just keep helping him grow in the sport."
Will this fight week be just as crazy as last time around, or will the guys keep it respectful this time?
"I think it's probably somewhere in the middle. I think that they need to build this fight, and build that bad blood. But I know that deep down they truly respect one another, and
they appreciate one another. But they gotta sell this fight, so who the hell knows what these two are gonna pull off? At the end of the day that's not my job. I gotta excess nose
and sit back and watch, and hopefully we don't get any fights with fans or do any bullshit on the side or whatever. Just make it to the fight and go out and execute."
