Khamzat Chimaev just needs ‘good warning’ to make welterweight

Andreas Michael says Khamzat Chimaev makes welterweight so long as he’s given time.

Chimaev missed the welterweight limit by 7.5 kilos in his initially scheduled bout towards Nate Diaz at UFC 279. Consequently, he was booked towards Kevin Holland as a substitute in a 180-pound catchweight battle. Chimaev won by first-round submission.

Like Chimaev (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), his coach Michael prefers a middleweight title shot for him subsequent – however that doesn’t imply he thinks welterweight is unattainable.

“Middleweight, for the belt,” Michael stated on Chimaev’s most up-to-date Dubai VLOG episode. “I would really like that. That’s an incredible battle, however we will battle at (welterweight). There isn’t any drawback. There isn’t any drawback in any respect. It’s simply good preparation – good warning for if we’re going to go drop quite a bit down in weight. Then we’d like time and it’s achieved – not these 5 weeks or 4 weeks preparation factor as a result of it’s not doable at the moment.”

Chimaev desires not less than three months to have the ability to lower right down to welterweight, however Michael says “Borz” isn’t strolling round too heavy and will make middleweight instantly.

“Proper now, he’s at 89 kilos (196 kilos), so he could make weight tomorrow,” Michael stated. “So it’s no drawback at 84 kilos (185) even when everybody thinks that he’s 140 kilos.”

In Episode 1 of his Dubai VLOG, Chimaev said quite a few opponents have turned him down and that he’s at present struggling to search out somebody to battle him.