Colby
Covington doesn’t think Sean
Strickland’s wrestling defense will work against Khamzat
Chimaev.
Strickland is scheduled to challenge Chimaev for the middleweight
title in the main event at UFC 328
on May 9 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Strickland
jumped ahead of Nassourdine
Imavov for the title shot with a stoppage win over Anthony
Hernandez at UFC Houston last month. A massive underdog going
into the fight, Strickland completely shut down Hernandez’s
gruelling wrestling.
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The performance against Hernandez made many believe that Strickland
can pull off a similar upset against Chimaev. However, Covington
doesn’t think Strickland stands a chance against “Borz.” Covington
believes Chimaev’s wrestling is on a completely different level
than Hernandez’s. “Chaos” predicts that Chimaev will either earn a
submission win over dominate Strickland on the ground for five
rounds.
Completely Different Levels
“I’m not giving [Strickland] a chance,” Covington told Submission Radio. “Hernandez and Khamzat are
completely different levels of grapplers in the way they approach
their strategy. I think Khamzat’s gonna take him down and submit
him… [Khamzat’s] not gonna be stupid and strike with Sean and make
it a kickboxing fight. He’s just gonna make it straight grappling.
I think he’s gonna push Strickland in some really bad positions and
either submit him or just hold him out for 25 minutes.”
Strickland (30-7) and Chimaev (15-0) have been trading barbs about
alleged sparring sessions at Xtreme Couture. While Chimaev claims
to have submitted Strickland, the latter dismisses it as a
situational grappling spar. According to Covington, MMA media
member The Schmo saw Strickland getting dominated by Chimaev during
sparring at Xtreme Couture.