5 ways Khamzat Chimaev vs. Colby Covington could go down

Khamzat Chimaev's next fight has been the subject of increasing speculation. Ever since the Chechen grappler's spectacular failure at the weigh-ins for UFC 279, many have wondered if his next bout should take place at middleweight.

While the promotion's president, Dana White, initially entertained a permanent move up to 185lbs for 'Borz', nothing ever came of it. Instead, MMA fans across the globe have witnessed several callouts from the undefeated phenom. He initially challenged top welterweight contender Colby Covington to a bout.

After receiving no response from 'Chaos', the Chechen mauler diverted his attention towards a rematch with another 170lber, Gilbert Burns. However, in the wake of the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt's scheduled bout with Neil Magny, Khamzat Chimaev took to calling out newly-crowned middleweight champion Alex Pereira.

While the matchup is interesting, 'Borz' drew the most fan attention after challenging Colby Covington. A fight between two high-level wrestlers at the top of the welterweight division left many salivating. Though exactly how the fight could transpire if the two faced off inside the octagon is unknown.

Let's have some fun and surmise how this potential clash of welterweight titans could turn out.

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#5. Khamzat Chimaev wins via KO

While the undefeated Chechen is best known for his wrestling pedigree, he is a serviceable striker with thunderous knockout power. Chimaev is a towering fighter at 170lbs, and the reckless abandon with which he throws lends to high knockout percentages.

In the cage, 'Borz' often positions his lead foot on the outside of his foe's lead foot.

This aligns his opponent's chin with his rear hand, recipe for a perfect KO punch. Furthermore, Khamzat Chimaev keeps his back and shoulder muscles tight like springs loaded with kinetic energy. He rotates his hips fully and twists his upper body to generate tremendous torque whenever he punches.

This magnifies his devastating knockout power. This could prove especially worrisome for 'Chaos' due to the sheer amount of accumulative damage he has taken in recent bouts. He engaged Kamaru Usman in two brutal wars that saw him get battered and dropped several times.

He was also dropped by Jorge Masvidal in his most recent UFC fight. The accumulated damage could play a part in his ability to absorb blows from 'Borz', especially since 'Chaos' doesn't move his head off the center line.

Additionally, the former interim champion advances recklessly with extended, high-volume combos.

This potentially exposes him to counterpunches that he won't see coming. Due to the damage he's sustained and his defensive deficiencies, it's possible that a large and powerful welterweight like Khamzat Chimaev could KO him.

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#4. Colby Covington wins via split-decision

The foundation for Colby Covington's skills as a fighter is his wrestling. The former All-American is an NCAA Division I wrestler whose endless cardio enables him to fight at a relentless pace. At no point has any fan ever seen 'Chaos' tire inside the octagon. His gas tank is bottomless.

This is partially what allowed him to twice compete with Kamaru Usman for five rounds without tiring. 'Chaos' combines high-volume striking with constant pressure. He throws a variety of strikes designed to create a chaotic storm that forces his opponents into a purely reactive state.

Hardly anyone can match his pace. Thus, he renders his opponents defensively inert as they struggle to respond to an avalanche of strikes. While this occupies his foes, he mixes in level changes and takedowns to initiate chain-wrestling sequences. There is a high probability that this approach could tire 'Borz' out.

Khamzat Chimaev's cardio failed him tremendously against Gilbert Burns in a three-round bout, no less. Burns, a former lightweight, is not known for possessing a deep gas tank, yet he managed to push the undefeated Chechen to his limit. The more tired the 28-year-old got, the sloppier his striking became.

While Chimaev might get the better of Covington in the opening rounds, 'Chaos' will arguably take over as the fight continues. Not only does Chimaev appear to have questionable cardio, but he also strikes with a 100% of his power- a habit that will drain his gas tank in a jiffy.

If the two men cross swords in a three-round bout, it's likely that the former All-American will beat him with a split-decision win.

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#3. Khamzat Chimaev wins via submission

Colby Covington is a wrestler by trade. While he's certainly explored other facets of MMA like striking and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he has stood true to his roots.

Unfortunately, this means that much of his ground game is still based on wrestling. While this enables him to control his foes on the mat, it's led to defensive issues.

Like many wrestlers who make the transition into MMA, 'Chaos' commits a dangerous mistake after he's either taken down or tries to stop a takedown. The former All-American places his hands and feet on the mat to push off it and stand back up. While doing so certainly gets him to his feet, it also exposes his back and neck in the transition.

This could prove to be a costly mistake against a grappler like Khamzat Chimaev. While both might not be far apart in terms of wrestling ability, their ground games are different. The undefeated Chechen is a dangerous grappler on the mat whose combination of positional grappling and ground-and-pound creates openings.

If Colby Covington makes a habit of turning onto his front against him, he'll easily be back-mounted en route to a rear-naked choke loss.

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#2. Colby Covington wins via unanimous decision

In a three-round bout, Colby Covington's best chances of winning are arguably via decision. He'll likely struggle to overwhelm and outwrestle the larger and more powerful wrestler in the first round- Chimaev will be dry and his gas undepleted.

Halfway through the second round, however, the energy expenditure caused by his fighting style will start to deplete 'Borz'. This might allow 'Chaos' to steal the second, and scrap out the final round in his own favor.

But a potential bout could be even worse for 'Borz' if it is a five-round main event.

If 'Borz' empties his gas tank to try to finish Colby Covington in the first round of a five-round fight, he'll be a sitting duck against a foe who never tires. Without the energy to continue, Khamzat Chimaev will be helpless to stop his opponent's offensive storm.

This could lead to a lopsided decision loss. The only upside for the Chechen mauler is that he's unlikely to be finished by his foe due to Covington's lack of knockout power.

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#1. Colby Covington defeats Khamzat Chimaev via TKO

Colby Covington is not a powerful striker. In fact, he's far from it. The former All-American is built for cardio-intensive activity. Thus, he possesses an abundance of highly oxidative, slow-contracting muscle fibers that are optimized for long and steady work.

However, this comes at the cost of punching power. But the former interim champion might not need heavy hands to score a TKO against Khamzat Chimaev. His cardio could certainly deplete his foe into a defenseless shell given the Chechen's questionable gas tank and his high-paced fighting style.

That would leave 'Borz' unable to defend himself, even against strikes that aren't all that powerful. The accumulated damage will almost certainly have an effect.

Khamzat Chimaev struggled massively to make weight for his previous welterweight bout against Nate Diaz.

He missed the 170lbs weight limit by a whopping seven and a half pounds. If that weigh-in failure is a sign of things to come, 'Borz' might be getting too big to safely cut down to welterweight. If he dehydrates his body past a certain point, his ability to absorb damage will be seriously compromised, similar to T.J. Dillashaw's flyweight debut when Henry Cejudo knocked him out.

In such a scenario, a tired and massively dehydrated Khamzat Chimaev could very well be TKO'd by Covington in the later rounds of a potential bout.