Chimaev (15-0) recently said that he does not put too much
thought into his legacy.
The UFC middleweight champion believes legacy will find its own
course if it has too. Chimaev enjoys traveling to fight and the
paycheck that follows.
“No legacy,” Chimaev said on the “Beyond the Win” podcast. podcast. “I never
think too much about the legacy. Legacy gonna come by itself. I
enjoy my job. I like to train, I like to fly to other countries,
beat somebody up, take the money and come back.”
A Growing Trend?
Chimaev is not the first fighter to prioritize money over legacy.
The legendary Khabib
Nurmagomedov had always emphasized that he fought for his legacy, not money.
However, things have since changed in the MMA world. Former
UFC heavyweight champion Francis
Ngannou fought only once in MMA after leaving the UFC, despite
securing a lucrative contract with the PFL. When asked if he
jeopardized his legacy by leaving the UFC, Ngannou said that legacy
won’t put food on the table.
Chimaev dominantly won the middleweight title against Dricus Du
Plessis at
UFC 319 last year. “Borz” is now scheduled to defend his title
against Sean
Strickland (30-7) at UFC 328
on May 9 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.