“Oh My God Another One of These Nutcases”- Alexander Gustafsson’s Coach Details His First Encounter With New Star Pupil Khamzat Chimaev

Khamzat Chimaev just blew open multiple doors in the welterweight division with his unanimous decision win against Gilbert Burns. The pair definitely showcased what war looked like. With a hard fight against his first stern challenge, Chimaev, with just four UFC fights under his belt, is closer to a title shot than ever. 

A natural wrestler, his skill in the MMA world is to be credited to his coach, Andreas Michael. Michael made an appearance on ‘The MMA Hour’ with Ariel Helwani and spoke about his first meeting with Chimaev.

“Of course. It was 2016. Two thousand and uh two thousand sixteen, two thousand and somewhere there, 2016. The story was that he came and he just like started like brawling with people. ‘I want to be as good as Alex… I’m gonna like, crush everyone.’ You know?” 

He continued, “He was a wrestler that came in, and uh I was thinking like, Oh my god, another one of these nut cases that just comes in and it’s like yeah it’s tough for like five seconds and then he’s that’s about it. Right as soon as he gets a taste of his own medicine, he’s gonna like pi** off. But that was not the case.” 

Also Read: The Early Career of Khamzat Chimaev Before UFC and MMA

“I was like, oh, we have something here. He was zero technique just brawling and shooting for the leg like crazy to take guys down because he didn’t have any striking like he didn’t have any grappling it just came in like raw, raw like a raw wrestler… And I saw a lot of potential, the team saw potential in him and we just started working and working. In four years, he’s ranked number two in the world now.” 

Did Gilbert Burns derail Khamzat Chimaev as the UFC’s hype train? 

Gilbert Burns vs. Khamzat Chimaev during UFC 273 was nothing less than a war. The two fighters lived up to their bout’s billing as the people’s main event. ‘Durinho’ accepted a fight against a significantly lower-ranked opponent and became the first man to deny ‘Borz’ a finish. 

Although he didn’t get the finish, a win is a win, and Chimaev’s hype train is still speeding along. However, ‘Durinho’ exposed that the Russian was no monster. His impulsive fighting style against Burns shed light on various flaws in his fight game that the champion Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington could note. 

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This might be a minor speedbump for Khamzat Chimaev, but he will get over it during his future training periods. However, Burns did prove why he is one of the best welterweights in the world and one of the toughest opponents in the UFC.