Everything You Need To Know About Khamzat Chimaev

Khamzat Khizarovich Chimaev was born in Sweden on May 1, 1994. He is a professional mixed martial artist and freestyle wrestler. He participates in the Welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and is one of the key players featured on UFC predictions.

UFC presently ranks Khamzat “Borz” Chimaev as the number three welterweight fighter. His professional mixed martial arts record is 12 wins and 0 defeats. Khamzat has won three gold medals in Swedish wrestling and holds the UFC record for the quickest three-fight winning streak (66 days).

Khamzat Chimaev began his career in combat sports as a wrestler when he was barely 5. He won a bronze medal in wrestling at the Russian National Championships as a junior before moving to Sweden in 2013.

Chimaev has previously battled in Brave Combat Federation and won the Swedish wrestling championship three times.

In 2017, he started training in MMA and faced Khaled Laallam in his first amateur fight at Fight Club Rush 1. Chimaev won the bout by submitting his opponent with D’arce Choke in the second round. Chimaev capitalized on his initial victory and won his following two bouts before going professional in 2018.

Personal Life

Khamzat described his first residence, which he called home. The Chimaev family inhabited a tiny two-room flat. Khamzat and his brother shared a small room with their mother and sister. Artur, the elder brother, is also a freestyle wrestler.

He stated that there was insufficient space for solitude back then. Back then, even obtaining food took a lot of work. Therefore, Chimaev was always keen to improve his family’s circumstances.

According to him, his mother’s life was most important. When Khamzat travels abroad, he constantly contacts his mother, he explained. Chimaev stated that he is content when his mother is pleased.

Last year, Khamzat Chimaev got married in Chechnya. Chimaev enjoyed his wedding day privately, surrounded by close friends and relatives. Chechen Republic President Ramzan Kadyrov was there with his friends and family.

However, there are no official records of his marriage, partly because he has not shared any images of his wife on his social media profiles. From what we can discern, The Borz would instead maintain the privacy of his personal life rather than join social media.

UFC Debut and Beyond

At the age of 23, Chimaev began MMA training. At the All-Star Training Center in Stockholm, he works with, among others, Alexander Gustafsson, a three-time contender for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, Ilir Latifi, and Reza Madadi. 

Gustafsson, one of Chimaev’s primary training partners, told a Swedish journalist at a press conference in June 2019 that Chimaev was one of the greatest fighters he had ever trained with.

The Borz began wrestling as an amateur. He transitioned to mixed martial arts after achieving success in freestyle wrestling.

Since his UFC debut less than two years ago, Chimaev has dominated the welterweight class. In his UFC career, he has defeated John Phillips, Gerald Meerschaert (at middleweight), and Jinglaiang Li by submission. Most recently, he battled Gilbert Burns in the fight of the year. 

Unbeaten Khamzat Chimaev won the second round of his UFC debut middleweight bout against John Phillips.

Chimaev’s initial offensive move in the Octagon consisted of a series of kicks followed by a powerful takedown. The Russian struck the Welshman with bleeding blows, and the Swede attacked him until the horn sounded.

In the following card, Northern Ireland’s Rhys McKee fought in his debut UFC main event on his first night with the organization. First-round technical knockout victory for Khamzat Chimaev.

On September 10, 2022, Chimaev and Nate Diaz were scheduled to fight in the main event of UFC 279. Chimaev weighed 178.5 pounds, 7.5 pounds over the limit for welterweights without a title. Because he was too heavy, Chimaev had to withdraw from his main event bout against Diaz. Instead, he faced Kevin Holland in the co-main event, a catchweight bout at 180 pounds.

Chimaev immediately won the battle as he was quick and relentless in his attacks on Holland. He maintained dominance on the ground and tossed Holland around the ring until he applied a D’arce choke to terminate the bout.

Currently, Khamzat’s record is unbeaten, standing at 12-0. Of late, he has been poking other fighters and calling Kamaru Usman, Leon Edwards, and the last style bender, Adesanya.