"Maybe he knew that Darren was injured" - Jack Hermansson reveals Khamzat Chimaev "showed up" at his gym to help him prepare for fight against Darren Till
Jack Hermansson scored a unanimous decision win against Chris Curtis at UFC London, but the road to this result was fairly unpredictable. 'The Joker' had a few training sessions with an unexpected UFC fighter prior to the bout.
Hermansson was supposed to fight Darren Till before he pulled out with an undisclosed injury. Prior to Till pulling out of the fight, 'The Joker' was seen training with Khamzat Chimaev, who is close friends with Till.
During an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Hermansson detailed the unexpected training session by saying:
"He showed up at my gym. I have no idea what happened there. I have my theories. I haven't asked Khamzat. I was just happy that he came and helped me prepare, but now, afterhand, maybe he knew that Darren was injured."
Hermansson's theory is not far-fetched by any means. Till and Chimaev are always seen training together, so it was unexpected that the latter would suddenly help one of Till's opponent get ready. Nonetheless, 'The Joker' won his fight against Curtis.
Watch the full The MMA Hour episode, including Jack Hermansson's interview, below:
Jack Hermansson reveals last thing he said to Khamzat Chimaev
Conspiracies aside, Khamzat Chimaev and Jack Hermansson are both Swedish fighters, and 'Borz' is more concerned about his career than Till's. With that said, 'The Joker' didn't seem to suspect anything weird about Chimaev being present at his camp, but he did have a final warning to send.
During the same interview, Hermansson revealed what he said to Chimaev before he left:
"I remember the last thing I said to him was, 'Say hi to Darren for me.' And he said I was going to meet Darren before him."
Hermansson mentioned that he has trained with Chimaev two other times before. They previously had a wrestling match at Bulldog Fight Night 9, where 'Borz' won a decision by points. Since Chimaev has fought at middleweight in the past, the two could end up crossing paths in the octagon.