UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has been unstoppable at 185 pounds, but Henry Cejudo believes there’s one man who can dethrone him.
Adesanya (22-1 MMA, 11-1 UFC) retained his title against Robert Whittaker this past Saturday at UFC 271, notching his fourth successful title defense. The champion has cleared out most of the division, including the likes of Marvin Vettori and Whittaker twice each.
But after seeing Whittaker land four takedowns against Adesanya, Cejudo is confident that Khamzat Chimaev (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) would have his way with the champ.
“The guy that will stop (Adesanya) is actually a (170) pounder, and his name is Khamzat Chimaev,” Cejudo said on “The Triple C & Schmo Show.” I believe Chimaev is just a whole other animal, dude. His wrestling, his confidence. I mean, this dude – from what I’ve heard from a lot of people, this dude literally trains like nobody has ever seen before. When you’re a wrestler, and you’re like that, and he’s driven, I don’t think there’s nobody on the planet … I can see him easily beating Israel Adesanya.”
He continued, “This is the reason why: Because he can take him down, and he has that Khabib (Nurmagomedov) control.”
Although Chimaev is currently a welterweight contender, he has competed at middleweight numerous times throughout his career. In a tweet he later deleted, Chimaev claimed that Adesanya has zero wrestling and would be “easy work” after watching his win at UFC 271.
