Is there a method to the chaos of Khamzat Chimaev? The Chechen fighter comes out of the gate like a bat out of hell, relentlessly attacks without giving his foe much room to breathe much less mount a counter attack. "Borz" is a nightmare, point blank.
Today my aim is to look at that relentless offensive output from Chimaev. We will look at his favorite way to set up a takedown, and how he controls his opponents on the ground once he gets them there.
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Khamzat Chimaev getting to the ground
Well rounded as he is, damage on the ground is where Khamzat Chimaev really shines. The relentlessness starts from here. Chimaev is content to counter on the feet and sit back, especially as the rounds go. But when he decides for a takedown, he goes for it with a vigor that fans of the Dagestani Dynasty will find familiar.
A double leg takedown
Chimaev's go-to technique is the double leg takedown. He will shoot for the hips and look to drive his opponents to the fence if he can't complete the initial shot.
Khamzat Chimaev's main goal at the start of a fight is to expose the hips of an opponent with a strike or feint, and then shoot on the hips.
At the start of nearly every fight, Chimaev is showing a strike, or actually throwing a strike, high and shooting in on the hips. (1) He begins by feinting high against Jingliang Li. (2) Li wants to counter and throws a wide right hook with his hips exposed. In traditional freestyle wrestling style, Khamzat Chimaev is on a knee and slides into Jingliang Li's hips, (3) turns the corner and drives through for the only takedown he needs.
This is the go to for Chimaev. High kick, takedown. Jab high, takedown. Fake glove touch, takedown. Chimaev wants to get to the hips and will do so by all means available to him.
How to prevent this? Fighters like Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns have had success by simply not engaging off the first ring of the bell, opting for a slower start and longer feeling-out process. But should a fighter find Chimaev in on their hips and to a body lock, as he often builds to off a failed takedown, a whizzer is your best friend.
Whizzer counter to single leg shot
With his gas tank being his biggest issue, slowing down Chimaev from the initial bell is critical. Ikram Aliskerov and Gilbert Burns demonstrated this in the two's fight with Chimaev.
In this sequence, Chimaev is in on a body lock of Aliskerov. (1) Chimaev loves a body lock and, as we will see in the next section, is lethal with it. Aliskerov will immediately dig the overhook and begins to turn his hips to counter Chimaev from getting underneath him. (2) Notice here how Chimaev still has the body lock but Aliskerov has also kept his overhook. (3) Without a good base, Chimaev tries to turn into Aliskerov and push through. Aliskerov will have to switch his hips and put his weight on top of Chimaev. Because of the whizzer, Aliskerov is able to (4) sprawl the takedown and stay out of harms way.
Takedowns from the clinch
If you thought Khamzat Chimaev was lethal in the open space of the octagon, just wait until you understand his work against the cage. For all intents and purposes, Chimaev's approach against the cage is the typical Dagestani approach. While Chimaev is from Chechnya, his game is very clearly influenced by Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Wrestling against the cage is Chimaev's bread and butter, especially early in the fight. He will often drive to the fence after coming up on a body lock from a failed takedown attempt. When against the cage, he often positions his thigh under his opponents as he lifts them up and attempts to sweep them to the cage where he will implement his ground and pound.
Before we get to said ground and pound, let's look at his basics:
Our first segment in the cage wrestling will be from @9h6st21_mma, or as we all know him by, Ghost. In the short video above, he explains how Chimaev will get to the fence, and despite not being perfect, is completely aware of what his opponent is doing and adjusts to what's given to him. We see Chimaev pressing to the fence, losing the posture battle, posting into the fence and pivoting to a takedown.
It's the chain wrestling, the constant searching for the next takedown, that makes defending attempts from Khamzat Chimaev so difficult. Taking too long in a position to actually make your move allows your opponent to mount their defense, be it pummeling, turning and fighting the hands, or coming up on a single leg. Instead, Chimaev, like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev, are quick to shoot and takedown, and quick to move on to another takedown if they meet resistance that they aren't happy with. What comes of this is that suffocating pressure that most fighters have found incredibly tough to deal with.
Chimaev is arguably at his best when he's against the fence with a body lock. Despite Aliskerov and Burns having success with the whizzer, most aren't so fortunate. (1) When Chimaev had Rhys McKee against the fence, McKee grabbed the overhook needed. Originally, Chimaev looked for the sweep but, before he could turn and throw or defend, (2) Chimaev lifts McKee up and scoots his left leg under McKee. Here, he looks to prevent McKee from throwing forward with the overhook by (3) sweeping him backwards over his two legs against the fence. As he throws, Chimaev (4) turns and takes side control.
Chimaev also looks to sweep in the middle of the cage off of the body lock too, often looking to trip from the inside or outside.
The Dagestani handcuff, or as normal people call it, wrist control
It's worth noting how effective Khabib Nurmagomedov was with wrist control. It became known as the Dagestani handcuff, but the name had already existed for decades. Much like his Dagestani neighbors, Khamzat Chimaev is always looking to trap wrists and take away posts from his opponents once he's on the ground. It's part of his two pronged approach to ground and pound: wrist control and one hook in.
Once to the ground, Khamzat Chimaev a starts fishing for a wrist. It doesn't matter to him if it's the left or right. Chimaev wants to take the post away and to isolate the hand.
(1) Chimaev starts out with wrist control. (2) As Chimaev is looking for ground and pound, Sidney Wheeler covered up making Chimaev's hammerfist less effective. (3) Chimaev pulls the arm out which opens the head for (4) more effective ground and pound.
When his opponent start to post up, Chimaev will use his wrist control to pull the post out from under them. This prevents the getup. The perfect example of this was easily Khabib Nurmagomedov ragdolling Edson Barboza. But it's Chimaev who uses it best in the current roster of mixed martial artists.
Immobilization and one hook in
Another staple of the Dagestani approach is one hook in against the fence. This opens up another avenue for Khamzat Chimaev to take away a post and continue his assault.
Often, Chimaev will wedge himself behind an opponent, cutting off the wall walk. He will then fish for wrist control to remove the post with the hand. As he's doing that, or before (there's no real order, Chimaev will take what's available first), he puts one hook in and will scoop the leg out if posted on. This effectively removes any sort of posting to get up and fighters have to eat the shots, which risks being finished, or compromising position by going to all fours–presenting the back–or going to the back which allows full mount.
Traditionally three post points are needed for a get up. Not impossible with two, and going to a different position to get enough posts compromises position. As seen above, John Phillips was denied an arm (wrist control) a knee (hook in) and Chimaev wedged between he and the fence which takes away the wall wall. Phillips was forced to fend off the choke, go to all fours, and Chimaev reestablished position, starting the vicious cycle all over again.
Khamzat Chimaev's relentless pursuit of offense has carried him through his 13 career wins. He aims to jump out to an early lead and, despite his gas tank issues, continues to do so. Fighters like he and Benoit Saint-Denis come out to kill. Chimaev's holes are glaring but the will to implement his attack seems an impossible mountain to scale.
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