Israel Adesanya claims Khamzat Chimaev can leapfrog Dricus du Plessis with a win at UFC 294

Israel Adesanya is ready to test himself against Khamzat Chimaev. ‘The Last Stylebender’ recently claimed that he’d be willing to give the Chechen-born Swede a title shot if he puts on a dominant performance against Paulo Costa at UFC 294. 

After Dricus du Plessis defeated Robert Whittaker at UFC 290, he was highly expected to get a middleweight title shot. The Adesanya-du Plessis matchup was hyped even more after the Nigerian-born Kiwi shared a heated face-off with du Plessis. While they were expected to fight at UFC 293 in Sydney, ‘Stillknocks’ was forced to pull out due to injury. 

Israel Adesanya is now booked to fight Sean Strickland instead. However, the reigning middleweight champion is already looking ahead to his next potential challenge. Khamzat Chimaev has been inactive since September 2022 and has been vocal about his eagerness to move up to middleweight. 

If Chimaev were to breeze past Costa at UFC 294, a middleweight title shot against Adesanya isn’t off the table. In a video posted to his YouTube channel, ‘The Last Stylebender’ was asked if he’d pass on Dricus du Plessis to fight ‘Borz’ instead. He replied:

“Definitely. Again, I do want to fight Dricus. But he has to know he’s not calling the shots here. That’s the thing. I am. So again, a guy who, ‘Oh, my foot is this. My foot’s that.”

Catch Adesanya’s comments below (4:40):

Israel Adesanya confident about dominating Sean Strickland at UFC 293

Israel Adesanya wants to teach Sean Strickland a lesson. The Nigerian-born Kiwi recently claimed that he plans to make ‘Tarzan’ look like an easy fight and is working hard in camp to make that happen. 

There is no love lost between Strickland and Adesanya. The two feisty middleweights famously got into it at the UFC 276 pre-fight presser and have beefed ever since. After much trash-talking and a bit of luck, the two are finally booked against each other. Fans are also excited to see them go at each other in the build-up before they settle their differences in the octagon. 

While Israel Adesanya is already a favorite going into this bout, he wants to make sure everyone remembers just how easy it was for him. In the same YouTube video, he said:

“I don’t take this lightly. You guys will see me, see I’ve been working… I want to make this look easy. I’m gonna make this look easy cause of the work that we’re doing right now and the way that I’m working right now… If he’s talking to me [mid-fight] he’s gonna get his jaw broken… My work will do the talking and he’ll feel me. I hope he talks to me because he’ll get his jaw broken.”