Khamzat Chimaev shoots his shot, calls out Israel Adesanya

Khamzat Chimaev entered the public consciousness this summer with a historic two-fight UFC debut, beating John Phillips at UFC on ESPN 13 on July 15th and then fighting again just ten days later, beating Rhys McKee at UFC on ESPN 14.

Making his performances even more impressive was how little damage he absorbed, eating just a combined two strikes combined in the two fights.

Then, at UFC Fight Night 178, Chimaev was faced with perhaps his biggest challenge yet: veteran Gerald Meerschaert, whom he dispatched in a mere 17 seconds.

Now, the Chechen phenom from Sweden has set his sights on the undefeated middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

After Adesanya’s sensational 2nd round TKO victory against Paulo Costa, Chimaev posted this to his Twitter page:

Naturally, such a fight is highly unlikely at the moment, given that Chimaev has yet to face a ranked opponent. However, it will be interesting to see how this will play out, as Chimaev continues to accept fights and keeping up a rate of activity similar to that of Adesanya during his own run to the title.

Chimaev, for his part, has seemed open to all takers, posting to his Twitter page that he is willing to fight “anybody, anytime, anywhere.”