Din Thomas thinks Khamzat Chimaev would battle in opposition to UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis.
Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) retained his middleweight title by defeating Sean Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) a second time on this previous Saturday’s UFC 312 important occasion at Qudos Financial institution Area in Sydney.
Du Plessis needs Chimaev subsequent, and has opened up as a betting underdog in a possible matchup in opposition to the undefeated phenom. Though Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) has torn by means of most competitors to date, Thomas factors to his two resolution wins over Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman as a trigger for concern.
“I feel Khamzat is a sprinter,” Thomas mentioned on “The Ariel Helwani Present.” “Should you have been to make fights one five-minute spherical, Khamzat beats anyone on the earth, any weight class. However you’ll be able to’t battle championship-level fights for 5 rounds on the tempo the place he’s at his finest. If he fights like that at his finest, I feel Dricus is so sturdy and he’s so sensible that he’ll have the ability to stand up to that. Now they’re swimming in deep water, and Khamzat can’t swim that deep.”
Thomas sees Du Plessis weathering Chimaev’s early storm, and dragging him to the championship rounds – the place Chimaev has by no means been examined.
“I feel that by the third spherical, Khamzat is like, ‘All proper, I don’t actually know. This man shouldn’t be going away.’ Let’s say he does tempo himself a bit higher. Dricus will simply pour it on him. So I feel that pacing is an enormous issue. We at all times discuss this cardio factor, however cardio is actually simply with the ability to handle no matter tempo you’ve got based mostly on the talent set you’ve got. That’s actually what it comes right down to.
“Like, you probably have a really restricted talent set and also you’re compelled to be in conditions that you just’re not comfy in, you’re going to have unhealthy cardio. However when you’ve got a really well-rounded talent set, and you’ll tempo your self higher, you’re going to have good cardio. That’s actually what it comes right down to.”
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