A. Gustafsson and K. Chimaev are training partners at Allstars Training. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram
The impact caused by Khamzat Shimaev at the beginning of his career in the UFC, it had already been felt by the Allstars Training Center, when the Russian-born Swede joined the gym. One of the team owners, Alexander Gustafson was impressed with the Russian-born Swedish citizen.
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During his appearance on the podcast “The MMA Hour”, on the North American website “MMAFighting”, the former light heavyweight title challenger praised Khamzat Shimaev.
“He’s a welterweight, but he hits like a heavyweight, he’s strong like a heavyweight and fast like a lightweight,” Gustafsson said.
The rapid success achieved by Chimaev in the octagon is not the result of chance. According to Gustafsson, the Russian-born Swede trains harder than he has ever trained in his life.
“He works harder than I’ve ever worked in my life. He does five sessions a day, at least. At my peak, when I faced Jon Jones and all those guys, I did three sessions a day, with about 20 rounds each sparring session. And my conditioning was great. But this guy works harder than me. He doesn’t get tired”, admitted the Swede.
Even fighting three weight divisions above Chimaev, Gustafsson, who will have his next fight at heavyweight (up to 120,2 kg), guarantees that he needs to take care of himself during sparring sessions with the welterweight sensation.
“I better keep my hands up. I am not kidding. He hits very hard. He's fast and has great precision, so he doesn't need a lot of power to knock out his opponents, because he knows where he's aiming and always hits. I've sparred with a lot of guys, laughing and making jokes. But this guy, when he comes to spar, he comes to spar. It doesn’t matter if it’s with me or another guy, he just goes”, concluded Gustafsson.
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