RAF co-founder makes sense of Khamzat Chimaev vs. Dillon Danis booking
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The Khamzat Chimaev vs. Dillon Danis booking by Real American Freestyle left many scratching their heads.
Chimaev, a former UFC middleweight champion, is considered one of the more dominant wrestlers in MMA. He's won three gold medals in freestyle wrestling at the Swedish Nationals and has been recently toying with the idea of moving up to light heavyweight in his MMA career. On the other hand, Danis, a former Brazilian jiu jitsu standout with only three professional MMA fights, has no wrestling credentials and has competed at 175 pounds in MMA.
On paper, the matchup seems like a huge mismatch in both size and skill. However, there is a method to the madness in the matchmaking here, claims RAF co-founder Izzy Martinez.
"Well, you know, Dillon Danis is actually, you saw him wrestle Colby (Covington), OK?" Martinez explained to MMA Junkie Radio. "And then you saw Colby wrestle and beat (Chris) Weidman, right? So (Danis) was close to beating Colby, if you don't remember that match at RAF, so I think that a lot of people underestimate Dillon Danis just because he's such a great sh*t talker. But on behalf of Dillon Danis from RAF, he's been a pleasure to work with. What a great guy. He's been on time. He's done all the right things. He's made weight. I mean, he's been a joy for us to work with.
"I think the opportunity was there for him to compete against a big-name guy and also for Khamzat to come in here and get a guy that he can get his feet wet with on the Real American Freestyle circuit that is a big pop. I mean, how many people out there don't want to see Dillon Danis get his ass kicked? And they want to see 'The Wolf' do it. So let's see it."
Chimaev vs. Danis headlines RAF 10 – which goes down Saturday at the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis. The bout will be contested at cruiserweight and stream on FOX Nation.
This will be Chimaev's debut on the RAF mat, while this will be Danis' second match after he debuted with a defeat aginst Colby Covington in March.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: RAF co-founder makes sense of Khamzat Chimaev vs. Dillon Danis booking