Khamzat Chimaev made his name in the UFC and became perhaps the most hyped fighter in the history of the promotion with his fantastic, absolutely dominant performances in his early days in the Dana White-led promotion. Fans will remember Chimaev version 1.0, who was so eager to fight and make a name for himself that he not only fought but positively destroyed three fighters in a span of three months (two of them in the same month) at the Fight Island back in 2020.

That version of Chimaev, however, seems like a distant memory. Since his Covid diagnosis in late 2020, which nearly ended his career, the undefeated superstar has been suffering from a series of illnesses that have led him to turn down or pull out of quite a few bouts, especially this year. Add to that the fact that the Chechnya native cannot enter the United States at the moment, and it seems everything is going wrong for Chimaev.

So much so that some fans feel, just a few days from UFC 308 that ‘Borz’ may yet pull out of his co-main event, title eliminator clash against Robert Whittaker in Abu Dhabi. But UFC commentator and former champion Michael Bisping has another question about Chimaev- his discipline.

“The reason I say Khamzat Chimaev can become the champion is for several reasons. Of course, he’s got a tough fight against Robert Whitter this weekend. We know, okay, Robert Whittaker is not an easy man to get by. And if he does that, you got to think there will be a championship fight at some point in the near future. But the real question boils down to self-discipline,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel.

In addition, the former champ questioned whether Chimaev had what it takes to actually sustain his maniacal offensive rate for more than one round since he looked spent at the end of the first round in his last two fights. To be fair, Bisping wasn’t all critical of the Chechen wolf and paid him quite a compliment, albeit a backhanded one, calling ‘Borz’ the best ‘one-round fighter’ in the promotion.

“Can Khamzat control his pace, his temper, his anger, his emotions? Can he watch his diet and can he go five rounds hard? Because when he went up against Kamaru Usman, yeah, he destroyed Kamaru Usman in the first round but again just like against Gilbert Burns, slowed down in the second and the third. So what does that mean? Well, it means that Khamzat Chimaev is probably the best one-round fighter that we have in the UFC,” Bisping added. Thankfully ‘The Count’ won’t have to wait long to see whether his concerns about Chimaev are true anymore or not.

Five-round Whittaker clash to be the biggest test of Khamzat Chimaev’s life

As Bisping pointed out, Khamzat Chimaev goes all out from the very first bell, none more so than in his UFC 294 clash against Kamaru Usman last year. That is why ‘Borz’ clearly won the first round, taking down ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ and dominating him there for the entirety of the first five minutes.

But the second round, in sharp contrast, was a very different affair, as Borz seemed to struggle to keep the same pace as the first round, exactly as Bisping pointed out. By the end of the third round, Usman was clearly getting the upper hand, even as Chimaev managed to eke out a majority decision on the judges’ scorecard after everything had been said and done.

And that is why so many Chimaev fans are concerned about him having to go five rounds with Whittaker in a bout that will probably decide the next middleweight title contender. And all of Bisping’s (and the fans’) questions will be answered this weekend. What are your thoughts on Michael Bisping’s concerns about Chimaev going into UFC 308?