Can Anyone Stop Khamzat Chimaev? New Champ Looked Unbeatable at UFC 319

Just before midnight on Saturday night in Chicago, Khamzat Chimaev finally had a UFC belt wrapped around his waist. It was a sight that had been forecasted for years, and one we should probably get used to.

Chechnya's Chimaev, now 15-0 as a pro, got his first shot at gold in the main event of UFC 319, taking on increasingly impressive champion Dricus Du Plessis of South Africa. The challenger entered the Octagon as a considerable betting favorite, but many expected him to run into trouble against the champion.

In the end, he could not have won more decisively, as he dominated Du Plessis to a one-sided unanimous decision victory.

"I don’t have a game plan," Chimaev said in his post-fight interview with UFC commentator Joe Rogan. "I just go and work like I do in the gym."

Chimaev's game plan in the fight was a bit of a surprise. While nobody was shocked to see him win, the prevailing opinion was that if he was going to win, he would probably win quickly—like he did against Robert Whittaker in his last fight.

Instead, Chimaev relied on relentless takedowns and suffocating top control to win the fight, at points seemingly just biding his time as Du Plessis became increasingly hapless below him.

His first takedown occurred just seconds into round one, which he used to rack up well over four minutes of control time before he returned to his stool. That trend continued into the later rounds. By the time the fourth round ended, Chimaev was clearly just five minutes from a title win.

“Maybe the most dominant four rounds we’ve ever seen a challenger have, taking no punishment," Rogan said as the fourth round concluded.

Shockingly, an unflinching Du Plessis gave Chimaev a bit of a scare in the final minute of the fight, enjoying a brief period in top position and even threatening with a guillotine and rear-naked choke. Yet Chimaev escaped the champion's rally unscathed, and by the time the fight was over, he had completed 12 takedowns, racked up almost 22 minute of control time, and pulverized Du Plessis with roughly 500 strikes on the ground (per UFCStats.com)—enough that there was no question he'd be leaving Chicago with the belt in his suitcase.

“He’s just a blanket," Du Plessis said in his own post-fight interview with Rogan, tipping his cap to the new champion. "It wasn’t a matter of strength… It’s almost like he knew what your next move would be.

“He beat me fair and square tonight… He deserves it.” 

Arguably, the craziest aspect of Chimaev's stunning win over Du Plessis is that the South African seemed like one of the toughest matchups possible for him. Now that he's torn through that challenge, the UFC is going to have a tough job convincing us anybody has a serious shot at beating him.

Interestingly, there are precisely four extremely high-level middleweight contenders in position for a title shot right now: Reinier de Ridder, Anthony Hernandez, Caio Borralho and Nassourdine Imavov—the latter of whom is set to fight in Paris next month.

All four of those men could conceivably beat Chimaev—anything is possible—but each one has an extremely narrow path to victory at best. If Chimaev beats even a couple of them, we'll probably be talking about sending him to light heavyweight in search of another title. He also has history at welterweight, and despite his struggles to make weight in the division in the past, came in well under the middleweight limit for his fight with Du Plessis, so a drop back down is not outside the realm of possibility.

Not long after his dominant title win over Du Plessis, Chimaev joined analysts Brendan Fitzgerald and Chael Sonnen on the UFC 319 post-fight show. During his interview, he was asked whether he preferred the idea of a return to welterweight or a move up to light heavyweight in the future.

In typical style, he didn't seem bothered.

"I don't care," he said. "Whatever Dana says. Wherever the money is, I'll go. I like money."

The truth is it doesn't matter what weight classes Chimaev competes in going forward. Unless he suddenly shows signs of slowing down, which seems unlikely, it's just hard to imagine anybody stopping him, from 170 pounds up to 205.