PFL star reveals valuable lesson learned from Khamzat Chimaev ahead of facing Khabib Nurmagomedov's teammate

Skills that are honed by working with Khamzat Chimaev will help a PFL star as he prepares to fight a teammate of Khabib Nurmagomedov. Appearing on Bowks Talking Bouts, Marc Diakiese covered several subjects ahead of his fight with Gadzhi Rabadanov as part of the PFL 2025 World Tournament.

Not only is Rabadanov the returning lightweight champion from last year's PFL season, but he is also a member of Team Khabib, which boasts standouts like UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov, and Umar Nurmagomedov, to name but a few.

Diakiese has a history of getting in work with the surging middleweight contender Khamzat Chimaev, as documented by an X post from the former over three and a half years ago.

Check out Marc Diakiese's post below:

When addressing the training experience with Chimaev in Sep. 2021, 'Bonecrusher' said:

"Well, like I was saying, the guy I'm fighting he's come from that side, it's tough guys. I trained with Khamzat [Chimaev] in Sweden, he's a tough guy and I learned a lot from him. So I know like a lot of Dagestani, Chechen guys - if you allow them to break you when it comes to wrestling, you will break. I've learned from people like Khamzat."

He added:

"So that's why I'm very confident with my wrestling going out there. Really saying we're gonna fight. Just experience, I mean the way he trains, I picked a lot up. I picked up a few things that they do that I put in my training knowing that if I step in there, I'll be ok."

Check out Marc Diakiese's account of training with Khamzat Chimaev below (19:55):

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Khamzat Chimaev not being booked in a title fight irritates former UFC middleweight title challenger

Khamzat Chimaev seems poised to be the next man to get a shot at reigning UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis. The lack of an officially locked-in event date for the seemingly inevitable title fight is seen as an annoyance by Chael Sonnen, who has previously contended for the UFC's 185-pound title multiple times.

Sonnen mentioned the same, while doing a recent interview with Submission Radio.

"It really is a peculiar thing. He's very clearly the number one contender and there's somebody in that region of the world with some influence that very much wants to make sure that that happens, but why isn't it happening? DDP would like to know when this is happening... It's getting to a point that it's annoying."

Check out Chael Sonnen's comments below (27:30):