Former champions blast fans for criticizing Chimaev's UFC 319 performance: 'Turn off the TV'

Khamzat Shimaev dominated Dricus du Plessis No. UFC 319 (Photo: Instagram/UFC)

The dominant victory of Khamzat Shimaev about Dricus Du Plessis No. UFC 319 continues to generate debate. After controlling his rival for 25 minutes, the Chechen middleweight champion divided fans, who criticized the "tied-up" style of the fight. Faced with complaints, two former champions came to the defense of the new belt holder.

Robert whittaker e Demetrious Johnson did not hold back on criticizing the fans who called the fight “boring.” Both praised Chimaev’s level of dominance and suggested that those who don’t like grappling should simply change channel.

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“Anyone who says it was a boring fight is a casual fan. If you're a fan of the sport and aren't fascinated by the skill of Chimaev to control someone as persistent as Dricus, who has escaped bad situations multiple times, who never gets physically exhausted, who is super strong and has the conditioning to last for days, if you're not fascinated by such unilateral dominance, you have to be casual. Because you never see it. This level of control in a title fight. We saw someone get crucified for 15 minutes. How can you be a fan of the sport and not think that's crazy? Robert whittaker, in his podcast MMA Arcade.

Along the same lines, but even more directly, Demetrious Johnson he mocked critics by saying that it was enough “change the channel” if you don't like fights with a strong grappling presence.

“If you don’t want to see grappling, wrestling and jiu-jitsu, don’t watch it. UFC. Are you going to watch the ONE Championship, Lion Fighting, GLORY, kickboxing, muay thai, right? It's very simple. You're complaining about something that is a very simple problem to solve. Let's say that Khamzat is going to fight again and you don't want to watch your style. All you need to do is press this button here, which is called 'to switch off'. You don't need to watch wrestling Khamzat, it's simple to solve. You're making this a bigger problem than it is," he said. Demetrious Johnson, on his YouTube channel.