Michael Bisping thinks Khamzat Chimaev put the entire welterweight division on notice after UFC 267. This includes champion Kamaru Usman.
Chimaev ran through Li Jingliang this past Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, choking him out in the first round for a “Performance of the Night” bonus.
“Khamzat Chimaev, for any doubts people had, this man’s the real deal,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “If you’re a welterweight, watch your baIf you’re a welterweight, watch your back. If you’re Kamaru Usman, who’s the pound-for-pound champ right now, he’s paying attention. He saw that on Saturday night and was like, ‘OK, we could have an issue on our hands. We could have a contender. We could have someone who’s going to give me a real fight.’”
Usman puts his title on the line in a rematch against Colby Covington on Saturday at UFC 268, but Bisping has an inkling that “The Nigerian Nightmare” will be seeing Chimaev in the near future.
“Of course he’s got to beat Colby at the weekend, which I think he probably will. But anyway, the point I’m making is everybody is looking at Khamzat Chimaev,” Bisping said. “The guy is unreal. What a freak, and I mean that in a good way. To have the confidence to go forward and just grab (Jingliang) like that, throw him down – and this is what he’s done in every fight.”
“Four fights, four finishes, four quick fights, only hit one time. He’s going to get to fight for the belt pretty soon. But I think he needs one more, and that would be a five-fight win streak and then he’ll fight for the belt.”
