Just days away from his long-awaited return at UFC 267 this Saturday, Khamzat Chimaev sounds like himself again.
Chimaev was close to retirement seven months ago after a difficult battle with COVID-19 and is over a year removed from his last fight in Sept. 2020. “Borz” (9-0) has fully recovered from his bout with the pandemic-causing virus that threatened his fighting career and is scheduled for his second bout at welterweight against a serious test in Li Jingliang.
It’s a matchup Chimaev is a massive -575 favorite on DraftKings in.
Khamzat Chimaev seems like old confident self ahead of UFC 267
“I’m a real gangster,” Chimaev said Thursday at the UFC 267 press conference. “You see me?”
Chimaev said he hopes to fight a big name — like third-ranked Leon Edwards — in his next fight because he is already assuming a W over China’s Jingliang on Oct. 27. The 27-year-old was scheduled to face the Englishman on three different occasions over the winter and during the early parts of 2021.
“I hope so. But I don’t think these guys want to fight with him after this fight,” he said. “Complain, ‘he didn’t fight somebody good.’ We’ll see what’s happening after this fight. I’m going to eat him up like I do always. Nine fights. Nine finish.”
The Edwards fight was scheduled for Dec. 19, 2020, and was delayed a month due to Edwards’ positive COVID test. Chimaev then tested positive, forcing the fight to be called off after it was shifted to March because of the severity of Chimaev’s symptoms. Not long after, he took to his social media in what seemed like a thank you to fans and official retirement.
Jingliang (18-6) didn’t respond at the UFC 267 press conference to Chimeav’s comments early this week that he was going to “beat his face [and] eat him.”
He said he expects a competitive bout and stood by comments that he didn’t expect the fight to go to decision.
UFC 267 takes place on Saturday from Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. The event kicks off with preliminary action at 10:30 am ET on ESPN, then is followed by the main card pay-per-view exclusively on ESPN+ at 2 pm ET. The event is headlined by a light heavyweight title bout pitting defending champ Jan Blachowicz against Glover Teixeira.
–Field Level Media
