Khamzat Chimaev has been a sensation since making his UFC debut in July of 2020, picking up four dominant wins and earning performance bonuses for every one of them. But astute fighters like Anthony Smith had been hearing about Chimaev for a long time before he ever stepped foot in the Octagon.
As a guest on Michael Bisping’s podcast, fellow UFC commentator Smith stated that he had been hearing training stories about Khamzat tearing up a couple of UFC light heavyweights that he has trained with for years - Ilir Latifi and Alexander Gustafsson (transcription via Sportskeeda):
“Other people said it first, so now I can say it out loud.