{"id":36843,"date":"2026-02-19T20:19:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T20:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Grappling-coach-The-precise-moment-that-Khamzat-Chimaev-matured-as-a-fighter-200185"},"modified":"2026-02-19T20:19:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T20:19:20","slug":"grappling-coach-the-precise-moment-that-khamzat-chimaev-matured-as-a-fighter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/grappling-coach-the-precise-moment-that-khamzat-chimaev-matured-as-a-fighter\/","title":{"rendered":"Grappling coach: The precise moment that Khamzat Chimaev matured as a fighter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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There came a moment when Khamzat
\nChimaev<\/a>\u2019s coach, Alan \u201cFinfou\u201d Nascimento, knew that his
\nfighter could control the animal inside him.<\/p>\n

Nascimento believes Chimaev substantially changed ahead of his
\nfight against Robert
\nWhittaker<\/a> in 2024. While Chimaev once flipped off the crowd
\nafter missing weight by 7.5 pounds, \u201cBorz\u201d wore glasses and was
\nrespectful towards everyone going into his fight against Whittaker.
\nThis even had fans worried as they thought the wild and often
\nunruly fighter had lost his hunger and aggression.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

However, Nascimento wasn\u2019t worried as he had been observing Chimaev
\nchange since the birth of his son a year ago. Nascimento assured
\nothers that, while Chimaev previously used to be controlled by the
\nanimal inside him, he was now in control of the beast and would
\nunleash it when needed. Chimaev proved \u201cFinfou\u201d right by breaking
\nWhittaker’s jaw with a face-crank in the first round to earn a
\nstoppage win.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest change in Khamzat as a more mature man came during the
\nfight with Robert Whittaker, where everyone was like, ‘He\u2019s not
\naggressive anymore, he\u2019s wearing glasses, he\u2019s too calm, maybe he\u2019s
\nnot hungry anymore, maybe he doesn\u2019t want it anymore, maybe he lost
\nthe aggression.’… That specific year was when everything switched
\nbecause his son was born one year ago,\u201d Nascimento told Real MMA
\nToday. \u201cRight before that fight, his son needed to get surgery\u2026 I
\nknew that everything was OK with him, but people who didn\u2019t follow
\nthat were worried. They were asking me and I said, \u2018Before, he had
\nan animal inside him that controlled him. Now he\u2019s mature enough to
\nstill have that monster inside him, but he controls it. He doesn\u2019t
\nneed to keep it leashed 24\/7. He knows exactly the moment to
\nunleash it. You guys gonna see.\u2019 Then he went and fought Robert
\nWhittaker, and everybody saw what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

The win over Whittaker earned Chimaev (15-0) a title shot against
\nDricus Du
\nPlessis<\/a>, who he dominantly dethroned to become the
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> middleweight champion last
\nyear.<\/p>\n