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Khamzat Chimaev is gearing up for his toughest test as he continues climbing toward the top of the middleweight division.

On Saturday, June 22, ‘Borz’ will return to the Octagon as part of a loaded UFC Saudi Arabia card from Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. Headlining the historic night of fights will be a 185-pound clash between undefeated Chechen monster Khamzat Chimaev and former middleweight titleholder Robert Whittaker, the winner likely nudging themselves into position for a shot at the division’s top prize.

“Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev in Saudi Arabia, that one is gonna be f*cking wild,” longtime UFC color commentator Joe Rogan said on his popular podcast. “That’s a wild one. That is a wild fight. Whittaker vs. Khamzat is legit. That’s a real fight, that’s a real fight for Khamzat because Whittaker is a big dude. Solid, beefy 185 [pounds], former champion. Both guys started at 170 but it was too hard to make it to 170” (h/t MMA Mania).

While ‘The Reaper’ has happily called the middleweight division home for the last decade, Chimaev was essentially forced to make the move from 170 to 185 after a massive mishap on the scale ahead of his scheduled scrap with Nate Diaz at UFC 279.

Khamzat Chimaev’s Only Middleweight Win Since 2020 came against a short-notice Kamaru Usman

Since then, Chimaev has only clocked one win in the weight class, besting former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman who moved up on short notice to face ‘Borz’ at UFC 294 in October. Chimaev won the fight via a majority decision.

“That’s a real 185’er as opposed to [when] they gave [Chimaev] Kamaru Usman, and Kamaru didn’t have a chance to prepare for that [fight],” Rogan continued. “He had 10 days. That’s not enough time. This is a big one. This is Robert Whittaker with plenty of time to prepare. A guy who is just as legit as they get. He just beat Paulo Costa. That’s a good fight. I like that.”

Whittaker is coming off a big win over the returning Paul Costa at UFC 298 in February. Winner of two of his last three, ‘The Reaper’ is 16-5 inside the Octagon and currently sits in the No. 3 spot in the middleweight rankings — eight slots ahead of Khamzat Chimaev.

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Petr Yan completed a successful return to the cage last time out with a thrilling unanimous decision victory over Song Yadong. 

Despite coming out on top, ‘No Mercy’ was forced to have surgery on a torn ACL following the bout which will keep him sidelined for the majority of the year. Though he received an unfortunate injury, the Russian already has his sights set on a return to competition and has one name in mind.

Following his title fight loss against Sean O’Malley, Marlon Vera wanted to fight his way back into title contention and planned to do so in a clash against former champion Petr Yan. After undergoing successful surgery, Yan has now welcomed the matchup against the Ecuadorian and has given his ideal timeline for a return to action.

“Yes, I’ll be ready just in time for November,” Yan told KPSport. “Of course, I’ll do it [fight Marlon Vera]. I’ll take him to mixed martial arts school.”

Recalling his latest win inside the octagon, Petr Yan believes ‘Chito’ Vera will suffer the same fate as Yadong if the two lock horns next.

“You saw how Song Yadong showed his best boxing. It went a little off the rails. Things won’t go according to plan for Vera either. That’s a hundred percent.”

“We’re going with what we’ve got so far, October or November is a good time to make that fight.”

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Related: Conor McGregor and Petr Yan stare each other down in intense face-off

Petr Yan’s aforementioned victory over Song Yadong was his first in almost three years in the sport. Now back in the winners’ circle, Yan hopes to battle his way back into the title picture and reclaim the throne that he believes is rightfully his.

Cruising to his second title defense against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259, Yan hit his opponent with an illegal knee and ultimately lost via disqualification.

The 31-year-old would go on to beat Cory Sandhagen before losing back-to-back controversial split decisions to Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley. He would suffer his third loss in a row against Merab Dvalishvili before getting a win over Song Yadong last month.

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In the words of Conor McGregor, Renato Moicano predicts these things.

As his UFC 300 showdown against Jalin Turner looms, Moicano stopped by The MMA Hour for a wide-ranging conversation about the latest comings and goings in MMA. Included in that chat was a round of predictions for some of the biggest matchups on the fight calendar in 2024, and in that regard, Moicano is confident the sport’s most famous star will have a successful return when McGregor finally steps into the cage against Michael Chandler this summer.

“I like McGregor in the fight,” Moicano said on The MMA Hour. “I could be wrong, right? McGregor, [for a] long time he didn’t fight, we have the leg injury and stuff. But at the same time, I think Chandler is the opponent to make McGregor shine, right? Because I don’t think he’s going to take McGregor down, just because he doesn’t shoot for wrestling. He’s a wrestler, but we don’t see him [use it]. We see him brawling. And because he’s so short and McGregor was so precise, I think he could get the knockout against Chandler.”

McGregor told MMA Fighting earlier this month that his long-discussed but oft-delayed comeback fight against Chandler is finally set to happen in the summer. Chandler echoed that claim, however both men declined to reveal whether their previously declared date of June 29 remains the official target for the bout. The two have been linked to a tentative UFC matchup since coaching opposite one another on The Ultimate Fighter 31 in early 2023. McGregor has not competed since breaking his leg in a July 2021 loss to Dustin Poirier.

While Moicano sees a successful night in the future for McGregor, he doesn’t foresee the same for one of MMA’s other big stars.

UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley announced this past week that his next title defense will indeed come against Merab Dvalishvili, the Georgian winning machine whose wrestling skills and seemingly superhuman cardio have carried him to a division-best 10-fight win streak. Moicano said he gained a newfound respect for O’Malley after watching him dismantle Marlon Vera at UFC 299, but he thinks the American’s title reign ends here.

“I don’t think he beats Merab,” Moicano said. “Stylistically [it’s a bad fight for O’Malley], right? We never know. He got [past] Aljamain Sterling — Aljamain Sterling is a good grappler, a tall fighter for 135, he is heavy. But at the same time, the pressure that Merab has [is dangerous for O’Malley]. But at the same time, [Henry] Cejudo got Merab [good] one time, right? Marlon Moraes, other fighters got [Dvalishvili with] the left hook, so the left hook is going to be over there. But I think the pressure of Merab is going to be too much.

“But right now, I don’t know, you have to respect Sean O’Malley for what he did to Chito Vera and you have to respect Chito Vera for hanging with him for five rounds, even with a broken face and stuff. So respect to him. And the thing that got me more [respect for O’Malley], that I think it’s amazing by Sean O’Malley, is the way he strikes. Very [good] flow. So he can definitely beat everybody in the 135 [division], but Merab is a tough fight for him. If I would have to bet, I would bet on Merab, for sure.”

Moicano also weighed in on a potential welterweight bout that, if booked, could be one of the UFC’s most polarizing matchups made in 2024. Undefeated up-and-comer Ian Machado Garry and three-time UFC title challenger Colby Covington continue to trade shots on social media over a potential bout, and Moicano sees that one as an advantage for the old guard.

“I think Colby [wins],” Moicano said. “The wrestling, the wrestling, yeah, the pressure. A lot of people are giving s*** to Colby Covington, but he’s still — he’s not young, but I think he still can [compete]. I think Ian Garry, I didn’t like his last fight against Geoff Neal. I don’t think it was a competitive, exciting match to watch.

“I think he would have trouble against Colby.”

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Kamaru Usman never had the chance to fight Georges St-Pierre, but for a few weeks at least, he got to become him.

On a recent episode of his Pound 4 Pound podcast, Usman revealed to St-Pierre that he was the main training partner of Johny Hendricks ahead of Hendricks’ epic encounter with St-Pierre at UFC 167 in November 2013. At the time, Hendricks was on a hot streak and sought to end St-Pierre’s run of eight straight title defenses, so Usman — then just starting his professional fighting career — was brought in to mimic St-Pierre.

Usman went on to have his own memorable run atop the welterweight division, but back then his main goal was working with Hendricks to dethrone “GSP.”

“I actually studied you a lot even before I was actually, I think, in the UFC,” Usman told St-Pierre. “I studied you because when you fought — I don’t know if I told you this — when you fought Johny Hendricks, I was brought in, I was his main sparring partner at one point. I was brought in to mimic you. So I watched you a lot going in to help Johny Hendricks. … I had to commit.

“I thought I was doing Georges better than Georges. I’m throwing the Superman-low kick, I’m throwing all these things out. I’m shooting on him, I’m trying to take him down, because I knew you would try to take him down. It didn’t matter what his credentials were, Johny Hendricks is a [wrestling] champ, but I knew you would try to take him down. So I’d been studying you for a while.”

Usman’s contributions paid off as Hendricks went on to give St-Pierre one of the toughest fights of his career. St-Pierre defeated Hendricks via split decision, but the judging of that contest is still disputed by fans and critics to this day. Following that contest, St-Pierre stepped away from competition, while the ensuing years saw both Hendricks and Usman become UFC champions.

Much has been made of comparing Usman’s impressive accolades to that of St-Pierre, with St-Pierre owning the UFC’s consecutive welterweight title defenses record at nine, and Usman owning the consecutive wins record at 170 pounds with 15 straight victories from 2015-22.

Usman praised his fellow welterweight great, specifically pointing to the similarity in their pre-fight ritual, which involved isolating themselves before a fight to focus on mental preparation.

“That is so surreal that you say that because I’ve never heard you say that, but I’m like — and I wasn’t taught these things — I do almost similar,” Usman said after listening to St-Pierre talk about his process before fighting. “Unfortunately, I lost the fight, Edwards, the second fight, because that fight I just had a lot of stress on me. But I was in the bathroom and I’m in the mirror and I was walking back and forth. I’m looking at the mirror because I’d look and I put myself in the scenario, and I’m talking to myself, but even before that, I do do that in my faceoff.

“That’s why most people, when they bring you back in, because most of us were main events for our last few fights, I’m sitting there, I’m crouched over, I’m talking in my head. They don’t hear me, but I’m talking in my head and I’m talking to the guy in my head, and then we back up and then it’s time to go. But it’s a mental process and I’m in this process the whole time and I think a lot of it has to do with preparation. It comes from preparations.”

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Statement
| BJPenn.com

With Marvin Vettori injured and unable to answer the call of middleweight rival Brendan Allen, 185-pound “Action Man” Chris Curtis will step up on short notice to rematch “All In” for this weekend’s return to APEX in Las Vegas!

Event: UFC Vegas 90: “Allen vs. Curtis 2”
Date: Sat., April 6, 2024
Location: UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada
Broadcast: ESPN+
Start Time: 3 p.m. ET Preliminary Card | 6 p.m. ET Main Card

UFC Vegas 90 Main Event On ESPN+:

185 lbs.: Brendan Allen vs. Chris Curtis

UFC Vegas 90 Main Card on ESPN+ (6 p.m. ET):

145 lbs.: Alexander Hernandez vs. Damon Jackson
145 lbs.: Morgan Charriere vs. Chepe Mariscal
155 lbs.: Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Christos Giagos
265 lbs.: Valter Walker vs. Lukasz Brzeski
155 lbs.: Trevor Peek vs. Charlie Campbell

UFC Vegas 90 ‘Prelims’ Card on ESPN+ (3 p.m. ET):

170 lbs.: Court McGee vs. Alex Morono
135 lbs.: Norma Dumont vs. Germaine de Randamie
135 lbs.: Alatengheili Alateng vs. Victor Hugo
115 lbs.: Piera Rodriguez vs. Cynthia Calvillo
135 lbs.: Dan Argueta vs. Jean Matsumoto
185 lbs.: Dylan Budka vs. Cesar Almeida

*Fight card, bout order and number of fights remain subject to change.*

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The Mixed Martial Arts Hour is back in your life! Below is a rundown of Monday’s show, which begins at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT / 6 p.m. UK time.

1 p.m. ET: We kick things off with Parlay Boys recapping their wild weekend in Atlantic City.

1:30 p.m.: Nate Landwehr looks back on his bonus-winning knockout at UFC Atlantic City.

1:45 p.m.: Joaquin Buckley reflects on his massive win over Vicente Luque.

2 p.m.: WWE star CM Punk joins us in-studio to discuss anything and everything.

4 p.m.: WWE women’s world champion Rhea Ripley joins us in-studio as well.

5 p.m.: The Parlay Boys look back at their best bets from the combat sports weekend.

For the latest episodes of The MMA Hour, subscribe on Spotify or iTunes.

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