UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev appears unbeatable, especially after the resume he has managed to put together. Dricus Du Plessis, Robert Whittaker, Kamaru Usman, Kevin Holland, and more have all fallen to the Chechen native. That’s why former UFC bantamweight contender Urijah Faber had high praise for the middleweight champion. 

“I think it comes down to mentality, not technique, with [Khamzat],” Faber told King Green and host Bear Degidio during the Jaxxon podcast. ‘The California Kid’ feels that Khamzat Chimaev’s commitment to his wrestling, durability, hunger, and belief in himself make him very “hard to beat.” However, there’s one man, Faber believes, who could get the job done. 

Who can beat Khamzat Chimaev?

When King Green brought up Anthony ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez, Urijah Faber lit up with excitement. “Yeah, Fluffy, man. That’s our boy,” Faber said during the interview. “You know what’s happening with Anthony Hernandez? He’s always had this gas thing like Cain Velasquez… He can just go go go go.”

Faber pointed to Hernandez’s training partners as a key reason he believes the middleweight has the tools to trouble even elite opposition like ‘Borz.’ “He’s got Eliot Kelly, who’s a high-level wrestler and a high-level jiu-jitsu player,” Faber continued during the interview. 

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“He’s got Ryan Loder, who’s an all-American wrestler.” But an even bigger factor behind Urijah Faber’s confidence is Hernandez’s work with what he calls the grappling boys. “All this big hype with ‘Fluffy’ has come in the last two years,” Faber told the Jaxxon podcast. 

“He’s made massive gains with these. They call it the grappling boys. They come in, and they have all these big guys, and they just f—king do rounds. And he’s got high-level training that has taken his game to the next level.”

Hernandez is currently scheduled to face Sean Strickland at UFC Fight Night on February 21 at the UFC Apex. A victory there could move him significantly closer to a showdown with Chimaev, potentially extending his current eight-fight win streak to nine and forcing his name into the title conversation.

The only two blemishes on his UFC record came against Kevin Holland in May 2020 and Markus Perez in February 2019, making his recent surge all the more impressive as he heads into the biggest matchup of his career. Regardless, first Hernandez will have to get past Strickland, who has already branded Hernandez the ‘American Chimaev.’

But can he win?

Eric Nicksick on Sean Strickland vs. Anthony Hernandez

While Strickland is known for his striking, Eric Nicksick insists, “Everyone in here knows how good Sean can wrestle and his ground game. Unfortunately, we don’t see it as much as we’d like in a fight.” Preparing for Hernandez, whom Strickland called the ‘American Chimaev,’ the team is drawing from past experience training alongside Khamzat Chimaev at Xtreme Couture.

After butting heads following Strickland’s loss to Dricus Du Plessis, Nicksick says the former champion is now fully committed to improving preparation and drilling. Facing Hernandez’s suffocating top game presents a clear tactical priority. “My expectations are not to be there,” Nicksick said of extended ground exchanges. 

If the fight does hit the mat, “Our main focus is A, not to be there and B, if we are there, don’t be there long.”

That being said, it appears whoever ends up winning the Sean Strickland vs. Anthony Hernandez fight may end up facing Khamzat Chimaev. Only that can reveal whether Faber’s prediction holds ground. Do you think Hernandez can?