Khamzat Chimaev gave Demetrious Johnson a clear reminder of why weight divisions matter in combat sports during an unplanned grappling session.
Chimaev, still unbeaten as a middleweight champion, has been in California preparing for his first title defence on May 9 against Sean Strickland. Recently, he’s been training alongside Johnson, who was just announced as the latest member of the UFC Hall of Fame.
Bare Knuckle FC fighter and Jaxxon Podcast host Bear Degidio happened to be around and filmed their light body sparring session. Things picked up when they moved on to a full submission wrestling match on the mats.
Khamzat Chimaev and Demetrious Johnson square off in grappling session
Chimaev and Johnson wrapped up a recent training session by jumping into an unexpected submission grappling match. While Johnson is considered one of the sport’s all-time greats, he built his legacy at 125lbs, whereas Chimaev holds the belt at 185lbs.
Right from the start, Johnson found himself on his back, turning into half guard as Chimaev looked to establish control from above. It didn’t take long for the middleweight champion to work his way toward a choke attempt.
Degidio could be heard yelling “don’t submit” and “fight,” to which Johnson replied “I am,” while working to escape the hold. By the end of the clip, he hadn’t tapped out, even though he remained caught in a Darce choke.
This clip followed an earlier video from Degidio showing a light stand-up spar between the two. The size difference was even more noticeable there, with Johnson looking much smaller compared to Chimaev, who has openly discussed moving up to fight for a title at 205lbs in future.
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