"The biggest change in Khamzat as a more mature man came during the fight with Robert Whittaker, where everyone was like, 'He's not aggressive anymore, he's wearing glasses, he's too calm, maybe he's not hungry anymore, maybe he doesn't want it anymore, maybe he lost the aggression.'... That specific year was when everything switched because his son was born one year ago,"
"Right before that fight, his son needed to get surgery... I knew that everything was OK with him, but people who didn't follow that were worried. They were asking me and I said, 'Before, he had an animal inside him that controlled him. Now he's mature enough to still have that monster inside him, but he controls it. He doesn't need to keep it leashed 24/7. He knows exactly the moment to unleash it. You guys gonna see.' Then he went and fought Robert Whittaker, and everybody saw what happened."
Khamzat Chimaev experienced a clear maturation after his son was born. Earlier behavior included flipping off the crowd after missing weight by 7.5 pounds, while he entered the Whittaker fight calm, respectful, and wearing glasses. Fans worried he had lost aggression and hunger. Coach Alan Nascimento observed the change over the year and explained that Chimaev moved from being controlled by an internal 'animal' to controlling that force and releasing it when necessary. Chimaev broke Robert Whittaker's jaw with a face-crank in the first round to secure a stoppage win and earned a title shot against Dricus Du Plessis.
Read at Sherdog
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