"He's a workaholic" - Petr Yan lauds Khamzat Chimaev for staying focused amid hype 

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Petr Yan (L) and Khamzat Chimaev (R) [Images via Instagram - @petr_yan and @khamzat_chimaev]

Petr Yan is impressed with Khamzat Chimaev's work ethic after having witnessed 'Borz' train at Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand. While 'No Mercy' is a regular at the renowned gym, Chimaev was recently there for a four-week camp.

Yan credited Chimaev for staying focused despite the loads of attention that came his way. According to the Russian bantamweight, Chimaev is headed to the top if he maintains a similar work ethic. The 29-year old was seen speaking about it in a clip uploaded to the YouTube channel Smesh Bros. Yan said:

"I was really surprised by his [Chimaev's] work ethic. Cuz he gets a lot of attention and it's hard to be disciplined when you're being praised everywhere. But he's a workaholic for sure. If he keeps it up he's gonna be at the top for sure." [As translated by Smesh bros]

Khamzat Chimaev currently holds an unblemished 10-0 professional record, with all of his wins coming via stoppage. 'Borz' is now scheduled to face former welterweight title contender Gilbert Burns at UFC 273 on April 9.

Meanwhile, Petr Yan will be fighting Aljamain Sterling in a bantamweight title unifier that will serve as the co-headliner of UFC 273. The Russian lost his strap to Sterling via a DQ loss at UFC 259 last year. He has since bounced back with a dominant decision win over Cory Sandhangen at UFC 267 to be crowned the interim champion.

Watch Yan weigh in on Chimaev below:

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Khamzat Chimaev details problem he faced at Tiger Muay Thai

Khamzat Chimaev claimed that several fighters refused to spar with him at Tiger Muay Thai after realizing his power. However, that wasn't the primary concern for the Swede. Chimaev revealed that the biggest problem he faced was amateur fighters filming his training sessions. Borz said in an interview with RT Sport:

"It’s hard to keep any secrets here, everybody has a camera and every time I am doing pad work or sparring, everyone starts filming. It’s kind of a mess here in the gym. I don’t get it.... There are more amateur fighters than pro fighters so they keep filming training sessions all the time and post them on social media. Yeah, they don’t have any strict rules regarding that." h/t firstsportz.com

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