Reinier de Ridder doesn't consider Khamzat Chimaev to be "all that." Considered one of the biggest threats in the middleweight division (up to 83,9kg), the Chechen still needs to prove himself in the opinion of "The Dutch Knight." For him, the duel with Dricus du Plessis will be an opportunity for "The Wolf's" skills to be tested.
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“I think it’s going to be a really cool grappling fight, with a lot of striking exchanges, a lot of cool positions to work with. But I’d be happy if he fought a few rounds with Dricus (du Plessis) so I could study him more. To be honest, I think there are better fighters (than Chimaev) in the division. More complete guys, Imavov, he’s very complete. He moves very well, he’s very relaxed and intelligent when he fights. I think it could be a tougher fight. But Khamzat is, of course, a great fighter,” said Reinier de Ridder in an interview with 'Home of Fight'.
This is not the first time Chimaev has faced criticism. Recently, former fighter Josh Thomson also raised doubts about the highly esteemed abilities of the undefeated fighter.
“How bad is he… or is he good? We’ll find out when he fights DDP. I’ve been saying this for a long time, the sample size isn’t big enough for me with Chimaev. It’s simply not big enough. Are we giving him too much credit? Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, he’s Muslim, he has a beard, he knows how to fight.’ Are we giving him Khabib credit? Nobody is like Khabib,” Thomson told the ‘We Want Picks’ channel.
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