UFC: Khamzat Chimaev mauls Rhys McKee in three minutes on Fight Island for second win in 10 days
- Chechen-born Swede gets another TKO in Abu Dhabi for quickest turnaround win in UFC history, and declares ‘where is my belt? Soon’
- ‘I can fight in one hour, maybe, if somebody injured just tell me,’ says Chimaev – ‘I smash everybody’
It’s not just the victories, but the manner of them. Chimaev (8-0) smashed Northern Ireland debutant and Cage Warriors stand-out Rhys Mckee (10-3-1) at his more natural welterweight even quicker than he destroyed Welsh veteran John Phillips at middleweight on his UFC debut last week on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.
The 26-year-old prodigy got the TKO after relentless ground and pound pressure at 3:09 of the first round inside Flash Forum, and is officially a terrifying problem for the welterweight division. “Where is my belt? Soon,” he turned around and said to the camera in the Octagon. The unofficial stats had it 57 total strikes to zero on Sunday morning – Chimaev had 124 to Philipps’ two on July 16.
“I can fight in one hour, maybe, if somebody injured just tell me,” he said in his post-fight interview with Dan Hardy. “I’m here in Abu Dhabi and I smash everybody.
“It doesn’t matter, everybody. How many fighters in my division? I’m gonna smash all of this division. I want to fight today also, brother. Everybody knows this guy not my level. What can I say? Everybody training with me know how is my level. Give me champion 85 [185 pounds], 70, I’m gonna smash both of them, same day.”
Indeed, at Stockholm’s Allstars Gym, Chimaev takes down Ilir Latifi, and he boxes Gustafsson, both former light heavyweights who are now competing at heavyweight. “The Mauler” was making his debut in the division later on Sunday against former champ Fabricio Werdum.
“We train always together. Alex, he’s one of the legends in the sport,” Chimaev said. “I think he’s gonna knock him out first round. This guy, we did hard work for that. Now easy work, easy money.”
After beating Philipps, with one judge awarding him a rare 10-7 round in the opening stanza at Fight Island 1, Chimaev asked Dana White and the UFC matchmakers to find him another victim. The 24-year-old “Skeletor” McKee, whom Sean Shelby and co have had their eyes on for a while, duly stepped up after three consecutive finishes in British promotion Cage Warriors.
It was a brutal introduction to the Octagon, though, as Chimaev picked him up straight away and put him against the fence in his own corner, and then on the floor.
Chimaev applied the “Dagestani handcuff” wrist control before going for a few rear-naked choke attempts, which McKee countered by turning into his opponent, but only to give up mount.
“Borz” started raining down big blows with relentless pressure from the top, reminiscent of a certain Khabib Nurmagomedov. Chimaev shares a manager, Ali Abdelaziz, with the UFC’s undefeated lightweight champion, and worryingly appears to have an equally-suffocating ground game but even better striking.
The referee finally stepped in to give the wrecking ball Chimaev the quickest turnaround victory in UFC history, and the only question is: who’s next?
“Unfortunately there are no fights here next week, so he can’t hang out for another one,” said Hardy on commentary. In all likelihood, he could’ve stayed and mauled someone else, had there been. If not for the travel ban, he probably could fight in Las Vegas on the August 2 card,
