Khamzat
Chimaev had to part with his lucky shorts after joining the
Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Chimaev’s (15-0) longtime grappling coach, Alan “Finfou”
Nascimento, recently recalled giving his fighter a pair of shorts
that would stay with him for a long time. “Finfou” gave Chimaev his
own shorts ahead of his amateur debut against Khaled
Laallam in 2017. While Nascimento wanted his shorts back if
Chimaev lost, the future UFC champion was certain that he would
win. Chimaev washed the shorts and hung them up to dry before
sewing a patch of his coach’s logo on them.
Chimaev went on to submit his opponent in the first round with a
brabo choke. Chimaev’s talent was evident in his first fight, and
“Borz” turned pro the following year after two more amateur wins.
“Finfou” recalls that Chimaev used to wear the same pair of shorts
for every fight before he entered the UFC. Chimaev was inactive for
a while during the COVID-19 pandemic when his manager suddenly
secured a UFC contract for a short-notice debut at Fight Island.
Chimaev could never wear his lucky shorts again, as the UFC doesn’t
allow fighters to wear personal kits.
“I gave him the shorts and I said to him, ‘If you win you keep, if
you lose, you give me back.’ Then he said to me, ‘Coach, I would
never lose.’… Then he took a patch with my logo and sewed it on
the shorts,” Nascimento told MMA Today. “Right when I gave him the
shorts, he went to the guys changing room, went to the sink, he
washed [the shorts with soap], dried, went and hung it to dry… He
went and submitted the guy with a D’Arce… Every fight he would ask
for my shorts until the fight with Ikram [Aliskerov]. After that,
he was without fighting for nine months. One day after training the
manager came to the gym and said, ‘Sign here… You go to Fight
Island, you go to UFC.’… And then he couldn’t use my shorts
anymore.”