Khamzat Khizarovich Chimaev was born on May 1, 1994 in Sweden. He is a professional mixed martial artist and freestyle wrestler. He competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight division and is one of the key fighters included in the UFC’s predictions.
The UFC currently ranks Khamzat “Borz” Chimaev as the number three welterweight. His professional mixed martial arts record is 12 wins and 0 losses. Khamzat has won three gold medals in Swedish wrestling and holds the UFC record for the fastest three-fight winning streak (66 days).
Khamzat Chimaev began his combat sports career as a wrestler when he was just 5 years old. He won a bronze medal in wrestling at the Russian National Championships as a junior athlete before moving to Sweden in 2013.
Chimaev previously competed in the Brave Combat Federation and won the Swedish wrestling championship three times.
In 2017, he began training in MMA and faced Khaled Laallam in his amateur debut at Fight Club Rush 1. Chimaev won by submission via D’arce Choke in the second round. Chimaev capitalized on his initial victory and won his next two fights before turning professional in 2018.
Personal life
Khamzat describes his first place, the place he called home. The Chimaev family lived in a small two-room apartment. Khamzat and his brother shared a small room with their mother and sister. Artur, his brother, was also a freestyle wrestler.
He said that in those days there was not enough space for loneliness. In those days, even getting food took a lot of effort. Therefore, Chimaev always wanted to improve his family’s situation.
According to him, his mother’s life is the most important. When Khamzat is on business trips abroad, he is constantly in touch with his mother, he explains. Chimaev says he feels happy when his mother is happy.
Last year, Khamzat Chimaev got married in Chechnya. Chimaev enjoyed his wedding day in private, surrounded by close friends and relatives. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov was there with friends and family.
However, there is no official record of his marriage, partly because he does not share any pictures of his wife on his social media profile. From what we can see, The Borz keeps his personal life private instead of participating in social media.
UFC Debut and More
At the age of 23, Chimaev began training in MMA. At the All-Star Training Center in Stockholm, he worked with Alexander Gustafsson, a three-time UFC Lightweight Championship contender, Ilir Latifi and Reza Madadi.
Gustafsson, one of Chimaev’s main training partners, told a Swedish journalist at a press conference in June 2019 that Chimaev was one of the greatest fighters he had ever trained with.
Borz started out wrestling as an amateur. He moved on to mixed martial arts after finding success in freestyle wrestling.
Since his UFC debut less than two years ago, Chimaev has dominated the welterweight division. During his UFC career, he has defeated John Phillips, Gerald Meerschaert (middleweight) and Jinglaiang Li via submission. Most recently, he faced Gilbert Burns in the fight of the year.
Undefeated Khamzat Chimaev won in the second round of his UFC middleweight debut against John Phillips.
Chimaev’s first offensive move in the Octagon consisted of a series of kicks followed by a hard clinch. The Russian pummeled the Welshman with bloody punches, and the Swede pounded him until the buzzer sounded.
In the next fight, Northern Ireland’s Rhys McKee fought in his first UFC main event on his first night in the organization, winning by first-round technical knockout over Khamzat Chimaev.
On September 10, 2022, Chimaev and Nate Diaz were scheduled to fight in the main event of UFC 279. Chimaev weighed in at 178.5 pounds, 7.5 pounds over the non-title welterweight limit. Due to his weight, Chimaev withdrew from the main event against Diaz. Instead, he faced Kevin Holland in the co-main event, a 180-pound catchweight bout.
Chimaev immediately won the fight as he was quick and relentless in his attacks on Holland. He maintained dominance on the ground and threw Holland around the ring until he applied a D’arce choke to end the fight.
Khamzat is currently undefeated at 12-0. He has recently taken a swipe at other fighters, calling out Kamaru Usman, Leon Edwards and the latest fighter, Adesanya.
