Chimaev on Du Plessis: I'm here to beat him up, take my money and go home

Khamzat Chimaev prefers to do his talking in the Octagon. That much is clear.

The undefeated blue-chip prospect turned middleweight title challenger headlines UFC 319 this weekend against reigning 185-pound champion Dricus Du Plessis and Chimaev is not wasting any energy trash talking his opponent in the days leading up to their fight.

Chimaev has been light on soundbites this week in Chicago ahead of his first UFC main event.

The 31-year-old star gave plenty of muted responses to questions he was asked Wednesday during UFC 319 media day.

Chimaev didn’t go into much detail about his preparation and was vague about his game plan. He and Du Plessis had a brief and respectful encounter at the fighter hotel, but nothing came of it. Could things potentially pick up Thursday at the press conference or Friday at the weigh-ins in terms of animosity?

Du Plessis has been known to match the energy of his opponents, so has also been rather subdued this week, yet he speaks bluntly and is always ready to throw verbal barbs. In fact, the South African star has made his past two opponents – Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland – cry in the lead-up to their championship matchups.

“All the fighters talk but nothing is going to change,” Chimaev told reporters when asked if he’s prepared for any potential Du Plessis trash talk this week. “Everyone has to fight in the cage anyways, so whatever he says I don’t care about. 

“I’m here to beat him up and take my money and go home.”

Chimaev, who was born and raised in Chechnya, spent a decade living in Sweden and is now representing the United Arab Emirates, is 8-0 in the UFC and 14-0 in professional mixed martial arts since debuting in 2018. He’s coming off a first-round win over former champion Robert Whittaker last October. Chimaev won that bout with a face crank submission that resulted in Whittaker requiring dental surgery afterwards.

Nine of Chimaev’s pro wins have been first-round stoppages but two of his UFC wins were competitive decisions. One over Gilbert Burns in 2022 and another over former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in 2023. Chimaev is arguably the most dangerous Round 1 fighter in all of MMA but his cardio was questioned in both of those decision wins. He has also been relatively inactive over the past few years.

Du Plessis told Sportsnet’s Aaron Bronsteter this week he sees this matchup going one of two ways. Either Chimaev will come out super aggressive and look to end the fight early like he did against Whittaker, or he’ll be wary of fatiguing since it’s his first five-round fight and pace himself early.

The defending champion said he’s ready for whatever Chimaev ends up doing.

Du Plessis is 9-0 since joining the UFC and enters this weekend with consecutive wins over past champions Whittaker, Strickland (twice) and Adesanya.

Below are some other storylines to keep an eye on ahead of a UFC 319 card that takes place at Chicago’s United Center:

'MVP' proud of his unique fighting style

Michael “Venom” Page has one of the most difficult styles to prepare for in the entire sport. Page faces knockout artist Jared Cannonier on the main card at UFC 319 and could inch closer to the title conversation if he can take out a former middleweight title challenger like Cannonier.

Page, 38, isn’t a natural middleweight but moved up from welterweight, first to pursue a fun style clash with fellow striker Shara Magomedov – which he won back in February – and now to test himself against a powerful veteran like Cannonier.

“My style is a big puzzle simply because there’s not many people who come from my style of background within MMA, so finding training partners is next to impossible,” Page said Wednesday. 

The closest fighter stylistically to Page on the UFC roster is Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson who’s still competing with ranked welterweights despite being the oldest fighter on the UFC roster. Thompson is coming off a narrow split decision loss to the No. 14-ranked Gabriel Bonfim. 

Page and Thompson have used karate-style kickboxing techniques and control distance effectively in the cage, while sniping opponents with crisp kicks and punches.

“It’s difficult because there’s less of us,” Page explained. “Obviously I love my style because there’s a scarcity. People don’t truly understand it until they're standing right in front of us.”

Cannonier is 41 but still has plenty in the tank as he’s coming off an impressive technical knockout win over Gregory Rodrigues in their February Fight Night main event.

Sezinando continued training with Cormier after TUF 33

(UPDATE: This matchup has been cancelled due to injury)

Rodrigo Sezinando and Daniil Donchenko were teammates on season 33 of The Ultimate Fighter, which finished airing this week, and this weekend the Team Cormier members will compete against one another for a UFC contract when they meet on the UFC 319 prelims.

Daniel Cormier was their head coach on the show and worked with both 170-pounders on their respective paths to the welterweight tournament final, and Sezinando has continued working with Cormier in preparation for UFC 319.

Sezinando is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil but has been living and training in Canada in recent years. The 27-year-old with an 8-1 pro record began his preparation for Donchenko at Lions MMA in Vancouver but then travelled to the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, which is where Cormier used to train and still often attends to help coach.

 “I’m actually really, really happy. Really, really prepared for this fight,” Sezinando said. “(Cormier) talked a lot with me, taught me a lot, showed me a lot. He’s amazing as a fighter, as a person, so he did prepare me really well for this fight.”

Sezinando is known for having a well-round style, while Donchenko is more of a pure striker.

Asakura hopes to make good second impression

It’s not often a fighter will make their UFC debut in a title fight but that’s how Kai Asakura was introduced to UFC fans this past December. The Japanese star faced dominant flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja in the main event of UFC 310 but could not pull off the upset and was submitted by the champ in the second round.

Asakura was a RIZIN titleholder before signing with the UFC and is known for his knockout power. The 31-year-old said he didn’t expect to sit out nearly eight months after losing to Pantoja but explained he has used the time in between fights to improve his overall game and adjust to the UFC style of fighting.

“I was used to fighting in the ring so I had to adjust to the Octagon style with the walls and everything else,” Asakura said through a translator Wednesday.

Asakura kicks off the main card Saturday against fellow past flyweight title challenger Tim Elliott who, like Pantoja, is known mostly for his grappling.

Elliott went five rounds with Demetrious Johnson in a competitive title fight back in 2016 and has made 13 additional UFC appearances since then. The 38-year-old American is 5-2 over the past five years and is coming off a submission win over Su Mudaerji eight months ago.

Asakura is 21-5 in MMA with 13 wins by KO/TKO. Elliott has only been knocked out once as a pro and that was all the way back in 2009 in just his third pro fight.

Another Canadian looking to take down former champ

Former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade is looking to bounce back from a loss to Canada’s Jasmine Jasudavicius at UFC 315 in May and in order to get back in the win column she’ll have to fell talented Mexican-Canadian Loopy Godinez.

A win over a respected former champion like Andrade could vault Godinez into or near the top five at 115 pounds. Andrade is currently the No. 5-ranked strawweight contender with Godinez sitting at No. 11.

Godinez has matured significantly throughout her UFC tenure and is a completely different fighter than the one who began training MMA almost a decade ago.

Before turning pro in 2018, Godinez had an up-and-down amateur career starting in 2016 and during that time she questioned whether MMA was even the right career choice.

“At the gym I would do really good, like I would do great things at the gym but then they would put the lights on (when it was time to fight) and I would get super nervous and overthink everything,” Godinez told Sportsnet this week.

Godiznez explained eventually, after 10 amateur bouts, that her apprehensive mindset went away. She began her pro career 5-0 and won an LFA title in her fifth fight, which got the attention of the UFC matchmakers. Godinez is 8-5 in the UFC since 2021 and has steadily improved with her only losses in the past three years being decisions to No. 6-ranked Mackenzie Dern and current No. 1 contender Virna Jandiroba.

Godinez said fans should expect the best version of herself against Andrade.

“I am calm and calculated,” she added.

Below is the projected bout order for UFC 319:

MAIN CARD

-- Dricus Du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev (for UFC middleweight title)

-- Lerone Murphy vs. Aaron Pico

-- Geoff Neal vs. Carlos Prates

-- Jared Cannonier vs. Michael Page

-- Tim Elliott vs. Kai Asakura

PRELIMINARY CARD

-- Baysangur Susurkaev vs. Eric Nolan

-- Gerald Meerschaert vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk

-- Jessica Andrade vs. Loopy Godinez

-- Alexander Hernandez vs. Chase Hooper

-- Edson Barboza vs. Drakkar Klose

-- Bryan Battle vs. Nursulton Ruziboev

-- Karine Silva vs. Dione Barbosa

-- Alibi Idiris vs. Joseph Morales (TUF 33 flyweight final)