Over the next few days I will be outlining a few of the biggest fights from this Saturday's UFC 267 event. Incase anyone doesn't know, this numbered event isn't a pay per view as they traditionally are. The event will take place on ESPN+ with no additional cost just like the last few fight nights have been, so don't miss out. I'll finish this series on Saturday morning when I post my picks for the entire card, which I am going to start doing for every UFC event. I'll keep my record and we'll see how I do by the end of the year. I considered doing the same thing for Bellator, but I honestly just don't know the bottom of their roster well enough to be useful or helpful. I won't be doing outlines like this for every fight, but maybe in my picks I will give a sentence or two for the fights that I don't do a full post for. I'll also be doing a preview series for UFC 268 next week so be prepared for those. Be sure to comment your thoughts so I can make adjustments to these if there's something more you want or something I should take out. With that said, let's get started with Li Jingliang against Khamzat Chimaev.
Khamzat Chimaev was the hottest name in all of mixed martial arts for the year of 2020. He's a 27 year old phenom with only 9 professional fights and 9 wins, the last 3 of which have come in the UFC. His first two wins came on Fight Island against John Phillips and Rhys McKee. That admittedly isn't the highest level of competition, but the way he won was in such a dominant fashion that it really captured the imaginations of MMA fans. In his last appearance, we saw Khamzat get a nice step up in competition against UFC veteran Gerald Meerschaert. Chimaev was able to knock Meerschaert out cold with one punch in only 17 seconds. While Meerschaert was definitely tougher competition than he had faced previously, it was made clear that Chimaev needed a significant step up in his next contest. He was originally booked to fight Leon Edwards in his return after a long layoff, but the fight was cancelled a couple of times after Chimaev contracted a particularly bad case of COVID-19. Luckily, Chimaev has since recovered and is now feeling well enough to get back to competition after he considered retirement in the middle of his bout with COVID. Chimaev is set to take on his toughest opponent of his career this weekend when he steps into the octagon with the number 11 ranked welterweight contender Li Jingliang.
Li Jingliang isn't necessarily a household name, but he's definitely a player in the welterweight division and will not be an easy out. Jingliang is 33 years old, but he's been fighting in the UFC for quite awhile, having made his promotional debut in October of 2014. Jingliang doesn't have the most star studded resume in his own right, but his experience factor could definitely be an advantage for him. He is also coming off of the biggest win of his career in his last appearance, so he does have some good momentum on his side. His massive knockout against Santiago Ponzinibbio on the Holloway vs Kattar card in January showed the Jingliang has the skills to force Chimaev to respect him.
That brings us to the fight on Saturday. I think this will be a legitimate test for Chimaev. The problem with trying to figure out how this fight will go is that we just haven't seen Chimaev fight that much. His first two were so dominant with him being in top position that there isn't really much to say and his third fight was a one punch knockout. We know Chimaev has the ability to dominate lower level fighters on the ground and he has the power to knockout a solid veteran with a single right hand. As great as this has been, we've never seen Chimaev fight when his opponent demands respect and I think Jingliang can do that. We just saw his power with the way he finished Ponzinibbio. Chimaev has only walked down his opponents and either dragged them to the ground to finish them or landed a huge right and put them out cold. We don't really know what Khamzat will look like when he faces a little resistance and how well he will take a shot from Jingliang. A huge question yet to be answered is in regards to Chimaev's cardio. How will he fair if Jingliang doesn't get put away early? Can he keep up his relentless pressure and offense well into the 2nd and 3rd rounds? I'm not implying I know the answers to these questions or that I will pick Jingliang to win, but there is definitely more to learn from this fight than I think people are giving it credit for. Regardless of how it goes, I don't think we will see Chimaev dominate in the ways we've seen up to this point. As amazing as Khamzat has been, there's a lot of things we haven't had to see from him and I think this is the fight that will force him to show us a few. We will see how well he can take a shot and how he responds to an opponent that is a legitimate threat to damage him. Jingliang has 59% takedown defense, which isn't fantastic, but it's definitely not bad either. If he can keep this fight standing, I think he has a legitimate chance to come away with a win here. I'm not going to make my pick in this article because it will be in the "Picks" post that will go live on Saturday morning, but this fight is definitely one that I'm excited to see play out.
What do you guys think of this fight? Do you think Chimaev continues to steam roll his way to the top of the division? Does Li Jingliang put a stop the the Chimaev hype train and make his own title push? How do you think this fight plays out? Does Chimaev immediately take it to the ground or do we see more kick boxing? Let me know who you guys are picking and what you think goes down. Be sure to comment below and also what do you think of this style of post? What did you like and what would you fix?
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