Jon Jones Lauds Good ‘Character’ Khamzat Chimaev with UFC 319 Fighter Billing Him Scariest on Planet

Jon Jones revealed his peers revere and 'fear' the dangerous Khamzat Chimaev, making his way to gold this UFC 319 PPV card.

Jon Jones Lauds Good ‘Character’ Khamzat Chimaev with UFC 319 Fighter Billing Him Scariest on Planet

Jon Jones praises Khamzat Chimaev’s ‘character’ after old praise went viral (Source: X)

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Jon Jones and Khamzat Chimaev are two of the most dominant forces that have grazed the Octagon without a doubt. The latter, though, is yet to realize championship gold and can do it soon, headlining the UFC 319 PPV event. In the lead-up to that, Jones praising the fighter has gone quite viral.

‘Borz’ is indomitable due to his relentless pressure and wrestling. He is indomitable in the first few rounds and his flavor of freestyle wrestling and three-time Swedish national champ status is tough to deflect. It’s something 185-pound champ Dricus Du Plessis is working hard to overcome for the UFC 319 PPV title affair.

Khamzat Chimaev is undefeated in the Octagon. But when it came to all-around battle IQ, the Chechen looked up to the GOAT candidate, Jon Jones. That is, summed up, pretty much how he described ‘Bones’ in a famed 2022 media interview.

Jon Jones, of course, nobody is like him…He beats the monsters. [and] I did all [my] training with Alexander Gustafsson; [so]I know how good he is. And if Jon Jones could stop that guy, it is scary guy [like Daniel Cormier] Cormier – he has pressure, good wrestling and boxing, and he has a mentality of just pressure the fighters. Jones stopped that guy as well. If he stays in the game, he has to be the pound-for-pound number one.

Khamzat Chimaev to ‘The Triple C & Schmo’ Show

With Jon Jones retiring, there is ample room to make strides in the men’s pound-for-pound rankings. During his UFC 319 pre-fight check-ins with ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto, Chimaev yet again iterated that he plans to make the top P4P spot. He has a multi-weight championship pathway in mind and would even be open to fighting former 155-pound king Islam Makhachev at welterweight someday.

Meanwhile, Bones has also taken notice of the fighter, his quick-to-act fight IQ, and his mounting pressure. Chimaev took no time at all to shoot on former #1 pound-for-pound fighter Kamaru Usman with a double-leg, despite his stiff-knee standing defense. He did the same against Robert Whittaker and demolish him with a first-round jaw crank at UFC 308!

The domination made its way onto fan forums even, given ‘Reaper’ is a bona fide middleweight legend. In the aftermath, snaps of Whittaker’s broken jaw and him just gaping on, fence-side, saw comparisons to Jones’ walk-by over a de-animated Lyoto Machida fence-side, on socials. Despite Chimaev having once said he’d beat Jones, the duo has mutual respect for each other, and Jones just returned the favor.

That’s a huge compliment coming from Khamzat [in the 2022 interview], I’m a big fan, big fan…of…of Khamzat…don’t think he has any reason to toot my horn or even be humble, he doesn’t have to be. I mean, heavyweights fear him, and the fact that he has so much respect for me really means a lot. It says a lot about his character, his humility…

Jon Jones to Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) in a recent interview

Per the BetOnline.AG sportsbooks opening odds, Chimaev is highly favored to snag middleweight gold next weekend, as a -200 early favorite. He has never seen a five-round affair, and despite that lack of battle experience, he has wins over standouts like Gilbert Burns, Whittaker, Usman, and others. As for Jones, his combat retirement could be short, with him entering the DFSI testing pool for 2026.

Champ Dricus Du Plessis disregards hype around Khamzat Chimaev and championship caliber

Numbers and money line from oddsmakers be damned, there’s a lot of narrative riding around UFC 319. Obviously, DDP’s headhunting, chin-open, K1-kickboxing swing-first attitude could be the perfect style to admonish Khamzat Chimaev’s early pace. But there’s also Chimaev himself.

UFC 319's Khamzat Chimaev not poised to be champ material with two harsh scraps
UFC 319’s Khamzat Chimaev not poised to be champ material with two harsh scraps (Source: X)

The Chechen warrior tends to gas out after exerting too much in the first few frames in explosive rounds. His scrappers against Burns and Usman proved he could get gassed up, and when so, fighters could pose significant threats. It is one of the sole reasons why Du Plessis doesn’t believe in the ‘Borz’ hype or that he could have earned a straight title shot during the vicinity of his debut!

There’s no way [people say]…that… he made his debut, he could have become a champion. There’s no way on earth. Kamaru Usman was a champion at that stage. He fought Usman off the couch on [just about] ten days’ notice and that fight could have gone either way in my opinion… If [Chimaev] could have been champion, he would [be one already].

Dricus Du Plessis to New York Post Sport’s (@nypostsports) Scott Fontana in pre-fight exclusive

Hence, due to Chimaev’s linear ‘smesh, kill’ linear approach, ‘Stillknocks’ sees openings to counter his methods, and finish him. Even more so than when he fought a shelled-up, ultra-defensive Sean Strickland a second time at UFC 312 PPV.

Come next weekend, only time will tell if he succeeds in his fight plan. Or if Borz crosses over the zenith and ranks at par with all-time greats like middleweight Anderson Silva and his gargantuan reign, Jon Jones, all-round maestro Georges St-Pierre, and many more.

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