Khamzat Chimaev push is ‘a slap in the face’ Stephen Thompson makes a bold statement

Khamzat Chimaev is one of the rising stars of UFC for whom this year went like a dream. He made the record for 3 consecutive wins in the least number of days, which gave him a significant push. Riding on this hype train he is booked to face the number 3 ranked Welterweight fighter, Leon Edwards in January.

Khamzat is being matched with Stephen Thompson earlier but Wonderboy denied fighting an unranked opponent. Talking about this in his recent interview with MMA Junkie, Wonderboy says that it is an insult for the other ranked opponents who made their way in the rankings with wins and Khamzat has presented this opportunity with this ease.

Thompson says, “I think he was ranked No. 15, which doesn’t make sense to me, I know he’s had one fight in the welterweight division, and his opponent Rhys McKee is 0-2 right now and normally a lightweight, a 155er, so it just doesn’t make sense how this guy can jump past everybody who’s worked their behinds off to get to where they’re at”

“And now he’s ranked No. 15 fighting the No. 3 guys, I believe. It’s just ridiculous to me. I had to fight through murderer’s row to get to where I’m at and so did Leon Edwards. He was on an eight-fight winning streak to get to where he’s at. I had to fight a slew of guys, I mean tough opponents.”

“Robert Whittaker, Jake Ellenberger, Rory McDonald, Johny Hendricks to get to where I’m at, and then this guy just jumps past everybody. I think it’s a slap in the face to everybody who’s worked their butts off.”

Stephen Thompson believes Khamzat don’t deserve this match

The gap between the accomplishments of Khamzat Chimaev and Leon Edwards is vast that’s why Wonderboy believes ‘The Borz’ doesn’t deserve to face Edwards. Wonderboy says, “For Leon Edwards, I don’t think it does anything, I think it’s a lose-lose for him. Even though Khamzat’s got a lot of hype around him, a good win, where does that put him?”

“It doesn’t move him up any rank, maybe a title fight, which I think he deserves anyway. So, yeah, the welterweight division is a little crazy at this point. Guaranteed he’s probably gonna get a title shot if he beats Leon Edwards, and I kinda called this.”

“I was wondering why they were pushing Khamzat so hard, and I was like watch Khabib retire because they’re from the same neck of the woods, they got to please that market, so it kinda makes sense why they’re pushing him so hard.”

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