KyokushinKarateMan
Train hard, fight easy
If it wasn't obvious during the buildup to the fight that the beef between them was scripted, it became glaringly obvious by the time they ended up in the octagon together. But was the FIGHT ITSELF scripted as well? I thought it was very strange the way Chimaev fought.
Take a moment and recall the way he shot takedowns on Usman and Kevin Holland, for example. It was blitz-like, and the pressure was relentless. When he shot on Strickland, it was very deliberate from the start. Very "manufactured".
Then of course there's that moment where Strickland "stuffs" one of Khamzat's takedown attempts, and Khamzat just rolls backwards and lays on his back.
WHAT?!
He doesn't do that against actual grapplers(Usman, Durhino), but we are to believe he just accepted grappler-defeat against a non-grappler like Strickland?
Then that strange round where he didn't shoot not one single takedown at all and chose to try to out-box a guy who's only known strength is his boxing. It was just a strange, sketchy looking fight all around. Even the way they looked at each other and smiled at the initial glove touch when the fight started.. the energy between them in that moment was very much "wink wink"(this YT short shows that moment as well).
I don't know, brehs. I had this feeling last night during the fight, especially when Chimaev rolled backwards for no reason. But this YT short really got me confident my suspicions were spot on.
Take a moment and recall the way he shot takedowns on Usman and Kevin Holland, for example. It was blitz-like, and the pressure was relentless. When he shot on Strickland, it was very deliberate from the start. Very "manufactured".
Then of course there's that moment where Strickland "stuffs" one of Khamzat's takedown attempts, and Khamzat just rolls backwards and lays on his back.
WHAT?!
He doesn't do that against actual grapplers(Usman, Durhino), but we are to believe he just accepted grappler-defeat against a non-grappler like Strickland?
Then that strange round where he didn't shoot not one single takedown at all and chose to try to out-box a guy who's only known strength is his boxing. It was just a strange, sketchy looking fight all around. Even the way they looked at each other and smiled at the initial glove touch when the fight started.. the energy between them in that moment was very much "wink wink"(this YT short shows that moment as well).
I don't know, brehs. I had this feeling last night during the fight, especially when Chimaev rolled backwards for no reason. But this YT short really got me confident my suspicions were spot on.

