UFC boss Dana White has explained why Khamzat Chimaev has been able to become a big star in the wake of his win at UFC 319.
We all know that Dana White enjoys when he has big names doing big numbers on the UFC roster. Of course, it's not quite as important as it was prior to the ESPN deal which made the company lots of money regardless, but it's still important. Khamzat Chimaev certainly feels like the next fighter who has reached that position after he dominated Dricus du Plessis on Saturday night to become the new UFC middleweight champion.
Moving forward, it'll be interesting to see how Dana White and the matchmakers decide to book Khamzat. There are plenty of options out there for him in multiple weight classes, but given his tendency to be inactive, you'd have to wonder whether or not they'll push for him to get back in there a bit more frequently.
In his post-fight press conference, Dana White spoke openly about the star power that Khamzat Chimaev now has in mixed martial arts.
Dana White praises Khamzat Chimaev after UFC 319
“Yeah. I mean, he’s a big star now. When you’re asking me, you’re saying how much bigger can he be? I don’t know. We’ll see. But he’s already a big star. Everything about this fight was big—from pay-per-view to all the numbers that we were looking at and just being here in Chicago... The last three days here felt big. He—tonight in the arena—the arena was insane. Yeah, he’s a star.”
