Khalil Rountree doesn’t see Sean Strickland having an answer for Khamzat Chimaev‘s wrestling.
Strickland (30-7 MMA, 17-7 UFC) emerged as a potential No. 1 contender after finishing Anthony Hernandez by TKO in the UFC Fight Night 267 headliner. Chimaev is yet to defend his title since dominating Dricus Du Plessis to claim the belt at UFC 319 in August. Chimaev suffocated Du Plessis by taking him down 12 times with over 21 minutes of control time.
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Rountree, who recently trained with Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC), sees the champion being able to do the same to Strickland.
“I see a lot of people on the internet saying things about Khamzat and him laying on DDP (Du Plessis) for however long, 23 minutes, and from a different perspective, it’s not that he just laid there,” Rountree said on the JAXXON Podcast (h/t MMA Uncensored). I think that he literally forced DDP to not be able to do anything.
“When this guy fights, it is dominating. However people are perceiving dominance, being able to hold the current champion down for 23 minutes is domination. If you’re a champion and you can’t get up from the ground, then that shows some holes in your game. So, I think a fight against Strickland would go pretty similarly.”
Strickland is currently vying for a title shot alongside Nassourdine Imavov, who is on a five-fight winning streak.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Khalil Rountree sees Khamzat Chimaev dominating Sean Strickland
