By:  | October 31, 2021 10:23 am

The Khamzat Chimaev hype train picked up a massive head of steam after the 27-year-old produced another devastating stoppage at UFC 267 tonight. This was the biggest test of the Swedish welterweight’s career and one he passed with flying colours.

Opponent Jingliang Li came into the fight in Abu Dhabi on the back of arguably his best win inside the Octagon. Having made his UFC debut in 2014 the Chinese fighter racked up ten victories and reached #11 in the rankings.

Chimaev scored three UFC wins in quick succession but missed nearly a year after contracting Covid-19. There were some questions marks over whether he could rediscover his explosive form and the Dagestani-born fighter answered them emphatically.

Aggressive best

Chimaev looked back to his aggressive best as he went straight for the takedown and manhandled Li to the canvas. He cracked Li with several stout left hands before taking his back.

Li ate a barrage of punches before Chimaev sunk in a tight rear naked choke. The Chinese fighter refused to tap but as his body went limp the referee called a stop to the contest.

Chimaev extends his unbeaten record to 10-0, picked up a $50,000 USD performance bonus and will surely enter the top ten in the welterweight rankings. Li slips to 18-7.

Afterwards Chimaev boldly proclaimed himself to be ‘the biggest fighter in the world now’,

Best of the rest

Glover Teixeira (33-7) submitted Jan Blachowicz (28-9) in the second round of their light heavyweight title fight. Petr Yan (16-2) becomes the interim bantamweight champion after scoring a unanimous decision win over Cory Sandhagen (14-4).

Hu Yaozong (3-3) was submitted by Andre Petroski ( 7-1) in the third round. The Chinese middleweight has now lost three UFC fights out of three as well as being handed a USADA suspension.

UFC 267, Abu Dhabi, October 30th
Glover Teixeira def. Jan Blachowicz via Submission (Rear naked choke) at 3:02 of R2
Petr Yan def. Cory Sandhagen via Decision (Unanimous)
Islam Makhachev vs. Dan Hooker via Submission (Kimura) at 2:23 of R1
Alexander Volkov def. Marcin Tybura via Decision (Unanimous)
Khamzat Chimaev def. Li Jingliang via Submission (Rear naked choke) at 3:16 of R1
Magomed Ankalaev def. Volkan Oezdemir via via Decision (Unanimous)
Amanda Ribas def. Virna Jandiroba via Decision (Unanimous)
Zubaira Tukhugov def. Ricardo Ramos via Decision (Unanimous)
Albert Duraev def. Roman Kopylov via Decision (Unanimous)
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos def. Benoît St. Denis via Decision (Unanimous)
Michał Oleksiejczuk def. Shamil Gamzatov via TKO at 3:31 of R1
Lerone Murphy def. Makwan Amirkhani via KO at 0:14 of R1
Andre Petroski def. Hu Yaozong via Submission (Arm triangle) at 4:46 of R3
Tagir Ulanbekov def. Allan Nascimento via Decision (Split)