Aljamain Sterling believes Khamzat Chimaev's training regimen was to blame for his loss at UFC 328. For the unversed, 'Borz' lost his middleweight belt in a closely contested split decision loss to Sean Strickland just a few days ago.
While some have pointed the finger at Chimaev's gruesome 47lbs weight cut, the former bantamweight champion believes it was his strength and conditioning routine.
'Funkmaster' made his feelings known by agreeing with the points made in a video by Adam Lusby, a strength and conditioning coach who has worked with professional boxers and UFC fighters like Lewus Crocker and Paul Craig, respectively.
In his video, Lusby alleged that 'smashing random' circuits in the name of conditioning training while cutting weight was the opposite of what a fighter should be doing before a fight. Lusby pushed back against the weight cut being the core issue. He emphasized the idea of training harder, not always meaning training better. It seems Aljamain Sterling agreed with this stance as he left a comment on Lusby's post on Instagram.
It's funny that people think doing all that always equates to great conditioning in the fight. There's so many variables and how you train absolutely matters. Fight-specific work is the best. I do almost 0 strength conditioning work and also Merab. We train efficient for the style a fighter that we are. And obviously, you have to make adaptations in case you need to be conditioned for a different style of fight that your opponent might push you or force you into. Khamzat is a phenomenal talent. I just can't wrap my head around the praise everyone gives to doing these insane workouts. That's my two cents.
Chimaev actually hired renowned strength and conditioning coachSam Calavitta ahead of his fight against Strickland. Even so, the second round of the fight against Strickland proved Sterling right, with the Chechen visibly exhausted, even pulling guard at one point. Clearly, his cardio issues persist, especially after a round of dominant grappling.
Sterling himself has always displayed very good cardiovascular conditioning in his fights. Moreover, he also mentioned that his training partner and friend Merab Dvalishvili has also adopted a similar, efficiency-first approach. The Georgian former champion has what many consider the best gas tank in MMA history.
The way Dvalishvili weaponizes his conditioning is second to none. His entire fighting style is built around drowning his opponents by overwhelming them with his techniques. It appears as if the 'efficient' training Sterling mentioned is at the center of this incredible conditioning.
Before all this, though, 'Funkmaster' actually predicted before the fight that Khamzat Chimaev's cardio would fail him.
After a dominant 10-8 first round at UFC 294, Khamzat Chimaev slowed down in the 2nd and 3rd rounds of his fight with Kamaru Usman. So much so that many believed Usman had done enough to derail his hype despite the dominant opening round from the Chechen. However, this issue did not really present itself during the Dricus Du Plessis fight at UFC 319.
However, Aljmain Sterling knew that Chimaev's conditioning issues would once again present themselves in the fight against Sean Strickland. He revealed this to Jake Noecker of Home of Fight following his win over Youssef Zalal at UFC Vegas 116.
If [Sean] Strickland could weather the early storm, that fight gets interesting really, really quick,. and I think Khamzat is conflicted right now. He's trying to decide whether he's going to try to run through him because he knows, possibly, if he doesn't, he's going to be tired going into those later rounds…I don't think it's an absolute lock for Khamzat whatsoever.
Aljamain Sterling via Home of FightThough things did not play out exactly as Aljamain Sterling predicted, Khamzat Chimaev's cardio did prove to be an issue in the UFC 328 main event. That said, Chimaev's move to a higher weight class will certainly help him have better conditioning with a smaller weight cut ahead of him.
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