{"id":36853,"date":"2026-02-19T18:59:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T18:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Khamzat-Chimaevs-coach-slams-criticism-for-recent-performances-200180"},"modified":"2026-02-19T18:59:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T18:59:58","slug":"khamzat-chimaevs-coach-slams-criticism-for-recent-performances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/khamzat-chimaevs-coach-slams-criticism-for-recent-performances\/","title":{"rendered":"Khamzat Chimaev\u2019s coach slams criticism for recent performances"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Khamzat
\nChimaev<\/a>\u2019s coach, Alan \u201cFinfou\u201d Nascimento, believes detractors
\nwill always find something to criticize no matter how good a
\nfighter is.<\/p>\n

Chimaev was originally scheduled to fight Paulo Costa<\/a>
\nat
\nUFC 294<\/a> in 2023. However, an injured Costa was replaced by
\nKamaru
\nUsman<\/a> on nine days\u2019 notice. While Chimaev earned a majority
\ndecision victory, Usman was arguably his toughest test to date. As
\nChimaev was visibly exhausted in the final round, many believe that
\nUsman could have won if the fight had been a five-round bout.
\nHowever, Nascimento explains that they had specifically prepared
\nfor a three-round fight, which is completely different than
\npreparing for a five-rounder.<\/p>\n

Chimaev finally went five rounds while challenging Dricus Du
\nPlessis<\/a> for the middleweight title at UFC 319 last year. \u201cBorz\u201d
\nragdolled du Plessis for 25 minutes to earn a dominant, unanimous
\ndecision victory. While critics have stopped questioning Chimaev\u2019s
\ngas tank for now, he was slammed for a boring performance against
\nDu Plessis. \u201cFinfou\u201d reveals that Chimaev had asked for his
\napproval to strike with Du Plessis, which was probably denied.
\nNascimento believes that if Chimaev had been knocked out while
\nexchanging on the feet with Du Plessis, detractors would still slam
\nhim for straying away from his gameplan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a fight with Kamaru Usman. We were preparing for one type
\nof fighter, Paulo Costa\u2026 A couple of days before the switch, they
\nswitched, the opposite — we didn\u2019t prepare for that\u2026 And then
\npeople start to say, ‘If it would five rounds.’ Bro, this is
\ndelusional,\u201d Nascimento told MMA Today. \u201cWe all know this is a
\nthree-round fight — preparation for three rounds\u2026 Five rounds,
\npure dominance [against Dricus], so now nobody talks about fighting
\nfive rounds anymore. But people say that the fight was boring.
\nKhamzat asked, ‘Can I strike?’ and if we said yes, we\u2019d just become
\nsloppy, unprofessional, and cocky at the wrong moment\u2026 If he got
\nknocked out, everybody would say, ‘What an idiot, why did he
\nchange? He was dominating the guy. The coaches let him do
\nthis.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n