5 adjustments Khamzat Chimaev needs to make to beat Kamaru Usman

#4. Khamzat Chimaev should look for control on the ground

Khamzat Chimaev should look to control Kamaru Usman on the ground if they fight

Thus far into his UFC career, Kamaru Usman has never been taken down. Considering he’s been with the promotion since 2015 and has entered the octagon on 15 occasions, that’s a highly impressive statistic.

If Khamzat Chimaev faces him, though, ‘Borz’ will probably be hopeful of becoming the first man to put Usman on his back. Based on what we’ve seen of his phenomenal wrestling skills thus far, it’s definitely possible that the Chechen-born Swede could pull it off.

However, if he wants to beat Usman, then merely taking him down isn’t likely to be enough. Chimaev will probably need to not only take the champion down, he’ll need to keep him there, too.

Across Chimaev’s five fights in the octagon, he’s completed a total of six takedowns. While that doesn’t sound overly impressive, the fact that he finished John Phillips, Rhys McKee and Li Jingliang on the ground so quickly means that he didn’t need to take them down on multiple occasions.

However, in his fight with Gilbert Burns, it was notable that while ‘Borz’ was able to take the Brazilian down, he wasn’t able to keep him there for that long. In fact, he controlled Burns for a total of just over two minutes, which is not a lengthy period in a 15-minute fight.

Chimaev’s wins over McKee and Jingliang showed that he can control lesser fighters on the ground. But if he’s going to beat Usman, then he’ll need to find a way to advance to a dominant position quickly or work on holding his opponents firmly down from the guard, perhaps giving up some ground-and-pound possibilities to do so.

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#3. Khamzat Chimaev should expect a longer fight

Kamaru Usman has been through five round wars on multiple occasions in the UFC

We’ve seen on numerous occasions over the years that fighters who blow their earlier overmatched opponents away tend to struggle once they’re tested in a lengthier fight.

David Terrell, for instance, was seen as a blue-chip prospect after he knocked out Matt Lindland in seconds in 2004, but when he couldn’t put Evan Tanner away in the early going in his next bout, he ended up gassing out and succumbing to a TKO defeat.

In his bout with Gilbert Burns, it was immediately clear that Khamzat Chimaev expected to be able to finish the Brazilian as easily and as quickly as he’d done to the likes of Rhys McKee and Li Jingliang. When that wasn’t the case, he did seem to tire out substantially.

Sure, ‘Borz’ recovered from a bad second round in impressive fashion and won the third round to claim a victory by decision, but many observers felt that the fight could’ve gone the other way. The Chechnyan definitely looked more exhausted when the bout ended.

So if he wants to defeat Kamaru Usman, not only will Chimaev need to work on his cardio, but he’ll also need to expect a longer fight in the first place.

Usman is a proven, dominant champion who is experienced in five-round bouts. So even if Chimaev hits him with everything he’s got, it’s unlikely he’ll be able to put ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ away early.

With that considered, ‘Borz’ should look to conserve more energy in the early going and look to turn up the heat in the latter rounds, just as Usman would do.