The Prelim Breakout Star is a once per event article that helps fans get to know those who will be entertaining them from the undercard. The intention of the article is not to bring attention to the most talented fighter on the preliminary card, but rather one that the common fan may have overlooked or underestimated.
Although the first Fight Island card was filled with names you likely knew, as we progress through these cards you’ll see more and more fresh faces. Here’s one to keep an eye out for this Wednesday.
Khamzat Chimaev
Nickname – Borz
Affiliation – Allstars Training Center
From – Stockholm, Sweden
Height – 6’2″
Weight – 185 lbs (Middleweight)
Record – 6-0 (0-0 UFC)
What makes him impressive
For me, the most impressive thing is how quickly he enters into body locks. The big takedowns that come from them are almost secondary in my book because the deepness of which he has them almost makes too much sense to get a big slam out of them. Often these come from a counter to a strike with a duck under, but he’ll occasionally even hit them naked. The fact that he can do this can at least be attributed in part to his long frame, but ultimately it’s very impressive.
Why he has been overlooked
With just six fights under his belt, there surely hasn’t been a good amount of time for people to see him. All six of those fighters were finishes, which should have brought on a bit more hype (especially being that four of them were under the Brave CF promotion). If you find all that to appear to be reason that there should be more hype, perhaps we can point to the fact that those fights all took place in 16 months – not a huge window.
What makes this a good match-up
John Phillips is a guy who loves to stand and slug. In his last bout, he met a willing combatant (for the 14 seconds it lasted). Here, he’s going to have to be defending takedowns and doing so regularly in order to get his hands going. The problem with this is two-fold. Firstly, the threat of the takedown is likely to affect his striking. Secondly, he’s not particularly good at stopping the takedown – as we saw when Kevin Holland scored on five of six of them. As a result, I think we can trust that Chimaev will have similar success.
Prelim Breakout Star Record: 198-87-1 (2 NC) (8 DNF)
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