Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson picks the tougher fight for Khamzat Chimaev between Leon Edwards and Alex Pereira - "He's hard to takedown"
Khamzat Chimaev's next opponent is anybody's guess. He missed weight for his planned welterweight bout against Nate Diaz at UFC 278 and ever since, it has been speculated that he will move up to the middleweight division.
Newly crowned welterweight and middleweight champions Leon Edwards and Alex Pereira are the two Chimaev has sought after the most with a potential belt to win. No.6-ranked welterweight contender Stephen Thompson weighed in on which of the two champions will be the tougher opponent for 'Borz'.
In an interview with Submission Radio, Thompson chose Pereira but mentioned how Edwards' ground game made him a formidable opponent:
"I would say Pereira. Pereira, for sure. I mean, you gotta look at it like this... Number one, yes, Leon Edwards' grappling is very good, his wrestling is very good, he's improving daily. I mean, he took down one of the guys who hasn't been taken down in the division in Usman, the former champ, and then knocked him out in the fifth round. So he's very good."
However, 'Wonderboy' singled out Pereira's imposing physicality as the game-changer in a matchup with a former welterweight:
"But when I look at it, I want to look at size and Alex is such big 185-er, I mean, I saw a picture, he was back up to like 220 or 225 or something after he weighed in. He's massive, he's very long, crazy reach, crazy arms, which is very difficult to take down. And I think that's why he's been successful in these last few fights, it's because he's hard to take down. So I think Pereira will be the toughest one for sure."
Check out Stephen Thompson's full interview with Submission Radio:
Marvin Vettori challenges Khamzat Chimaev to face him before Alex Pereira
Khamzat Chimaev is arguably the hottest rising star in the promotion as he continues on his unbeaten run. He has blitzed his way past his opponents in the octagon and Kevin Holland was no match for him in his most recent outing.
Middleweight contender Marvin Vettori also jumped in on the wave of Chimaev moving up to 185 pounds by calling the Chechen-born Swede out. The one-time middleweight title challenger quoted 'Borz's callout to Pereira and suggested he fight him first:
"I’d say you fight me first [zany face emoji]"
Khamzat Chimaev did not respond to Vettori, who is on an inconsistent run of two losses in his last three fights.
Check out Marvin Vettori's tweet below:
I’d say you fight me first 🤪 twitter.com/kchimaev/statu…