'Most Horrible Title Fights I’ve Ever Seen': UFC Star Criticizes Fighting Style Of Khamzat Chimaev and Islam Makhachev

Bobby Green may not enjoy that style, but a huge number of fans still watch whenever Chimaev and Makhachev fight. Both men do more than wrestle. They try to finish fights. ‘Borz’ pushes forward hard from start to end, while Makhachev stays calm, thinks smart, and finds ways to beat people without wasting moves.

Dricus du Plessis Believes Khamzat Chimaev Must Evolve Beyond Wrestling

Dricus du Plessis believes Chimaev lost some of the fear and charisma around him after the fight with Sean Strickland. He still sees Chimaev as an incredible fighter, but feels fans started looking at him differently. DDP also thinks the fight could either hurt Chimaev mentally or push him to become a more complete MMA fighter, rather than relying mostly on wrestling.

“This fight is gonna go in one of the two ways for him: it’s gonna break him, or it’s just gonna motivate him to think, ‘I can’t just rely on my wrestling, I need to fight MMA.’ The wrestling guys were so dominant that people started to catch up,” DDP said.

Being one-dimensional can be a major problem in MMA, as fighters need a range of skills to stay on top for a long time. But Chimaev has already shown that he can strike and trade punches too, not just wrestle. Now, many fans are waiting to see how he responds after his first loss and what changes he brings into his next performance.