"Great fighters like Khabib and Makhachev would not have the chance" - Coach Andreas Michael responds to the doubters of Khamzat Chimaev's hype

Khamzat Chimaev’s coach Andreas Michael has opened up about the criticism being directed towards his star pupil in the aftermath of UFC 273.

Chimaev defeated Gilbert Burns via unanimous decision in a closely-contested fight at UFC 273 on April 9. While certain sections of the MMA community have lauded ‘Borz’ for proving that he belongs among the elite at 170 pounds, others claim that his performance against Burns showed that he was overhyped.

Speaking to ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto, Andreas Michael explained that if 'Borz' had beaten Burns early in the fight – as he’d done to previous opponents – his detractors would’ve claimed that his stamina hadn’t been tested yet.

Michael pointed out that after Chimaev went the distance in a brawl with Burns, his detractors now say that it was too close of a fight and that UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman would dominantly defeat Chimaev.

Additionally, he suggested that even other great fighters, such as UFC lightweight elite Islam Makhachev and MMA legend Khabib Nurmagomedov, have faced adversity in the past. Nevertheless, that didn’t necessarily mean they were overhyped. Michael stated:

“If we thought in those lines, in that way, then great fighters like Khabib [Nurmagomedov] and [Islam] Makhachev, in reality, would not have that chance. Because when Makhachev got knocked out on the same card as Cormier versus Alexander Gustafsson in 215 [2015], I think. And in the first round, after one minute and forty-six seconds, he [Makhachev] got dropped. And if we thought that, ‘Oh, man, he’s rubbish. He’s not that good.’ I think he’s one of the best fighters in the UFC, in my opinion.”

Watch Andreas Michael’s conversation with Brett Okamoto in the video below:

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Ali Abdelaziz on a potential Khamzat Chimaev vs. Kamaru Usman fight

UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman is expected to defend his title against Leon Edwards next. Meanwhile, Khamzat Chimaev is targeting a fight against Colby Covington. The consensus is that should Chimaev beat Covington, he'd earn a title shot against the winner of the Usman-Edwards matchup.

In a recent interview with ESPN MMA, Kamaru Usman’s manager Ali Abdelaziz addressed the possibility of his client fighting Khamzat Chimaev. He opined that the time to beat Chimaev is now, as he’s still young in his MMA career and hasn’t reached his full potential yet. He indicated that Usman is in a class of his own and would soundly beat Chimaev if they were to clash now. Abdelaziz said:

“In one or two more years he's (Chimaev is) gonna be very, very hard to beat but right now he's human. He can beat everybody (and) people can beat him you know."