Khamzat Chimaev believes Darren Till could have won last fight if he had trained with him

Khamzat Chimaev has developed a close friendship with Darren Till, with the two calling themselves 'Smesh Bros'. The No.3-ranked welterweight recently stated that Till would have emerged victorious over Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 282 if they had trained together leading up to the fight.

Speaking to Red Corner MMA, 'Borz' said:

"For his last fight, he trained here at Tiger. I don't know who he trained with. Yes, we are close friends with Darren, but he has his own coaches. He is a grown man, he knows what to do. If he'd trained with me in Sweden, it would've been a different fight for sure. This is my opinion at least."

Khamzat Chimaev added:

"Darren has a lot of problems nobody knows about. He needs to take care of them. He needs to fix his knee. He needs a knee surgery, but he takes fights instead. I said to him, 'Hey, do the surgery first then fight.' We will see. He knows what to do. I have been helping him in every way I could and I will keep doing so."

Darren Till has lost five of his last six fights, with four of those defeats coming by finish. Things have gone downhill for him since fighting for the welterweight title at UFC 228 in 2018, and Till is now in danger of falling out of the middleweight rankings.

Watch Khamzat Chimaev discuss Darren Till below (starting at the 4:30-min mark):

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Khamzat Chimaev accuses Colby Covington of ducking him

Khamzat Chimaev has targeted a welterweight bout with Colby Covington for nearly a year. However, he has not received a response.

In the same interview, Chimaev accused the No.2-ranked welterweight of ducking him:

"I have no clue, either. At first, they said it was Colby Covington. We've been waiting for half a year. It looks like he doesn't want it. They all call me out, but as soon as the UFC tries to make the fight, they start running. I think it's going to be the winner of [Kamaru] Usman vs. [Leon] Edwards III, whoever takes it will face me."

This is not the first time that Chimaev has accused Covington of ducking him. He previously claimed the same prior to his scheduled UFC 279 bout with Nate Diaz. 'Borz' has not fought in nearly five months. Meanwhile, Covington has not entered the octagon in nearly a year, last fighting at UFC 272. Despite being called out by several welterweight contenders, he has been unusually quiet.

Watch Khamzat Chimaev discuss Colby Covington below (starting at the 0:20-min mark):