Exclusive: Guram Kutateladze sheds light on how his friendship with Khamzat Chimaev blossomed: "He was not that big like nowadays"
Guram Kutateladze recently shed light on his friendship with UFC middleweight contender Khamzat Chimaev and described what he was like prior to joining the MMA leader. 'Borz's popularity quickly surged and he ascended the welterweight rankings.
The 32-year-old has been friends with 'Borz' for years and two can be seen in several posts together on social media. Both fighters made their UFC debuts in in 2020, however, Chimaev has been the more successful of the two as he has remained unbeaten.
During an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA's James Lynch, the UFC lightweight competitor recounted when his friendship with 'Borz' began to blossom. Kutateladze mentioned that their friendship began after a competitive sparring session and then continued to grow as they spent more time together in and out of their gym. He said:
"We met in the gym at the sparring session for the first time. At that time he was not that big like nowadays...We sparred and we went pretty hard then we were a bit mad at each other because it was so close rounds...After that, we went to eat together, become friends. We slept in the gym together, we eat together, train together and after we become very naturally brotherly." [9:21 - 10:31]
Check out the full exclusive interview with Guram Kutateladze below:
Guram Kutateladze believes Khamzat Chimaev will become UFC champion
Guram Kutateladze is very confident in his friend Khamzat Chimaev's abilities and believes that he will eventually become a UFC champion.
During the aforementioned interview, Kutateladze mentioned that Chimaev is motivated and believes that he will accomplish his goal as long as he remains healthy. He said:
"Yes, definitely [he'll be UFC middleweight champion]. Hopefully God gonna be with him and on his side and keep him healthy, which is the most important and everything else, he gonna do it by himself. He gonna manage it." [8:35 - 8:56]
Check out Khamzat Chimaev sparring footage below: