“The Belt Is Not Important To Me, I Want To Make Money” – Khamzat Chimaev

Good Guy / Bad Guy

ESPN Radio

Sports

4.4 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On today’s Good Guy / Bad Guy, Daniel Cormier & Chael Sonnen react to Khamzat Chimaev speaking for the first time ahead of his UFC 319 middleweight title bout vs Dricus Du Plessis. Khamzat stated “The belt is not important to me… I want to make money & have a lot of money”, how did the guys take such honesty from a fighter? He also mentioned that he believes he has what it takes to become the first 3-division champion in UFC history… how likely is that feat for Chimaev? Also, Chael is hyped about the possibility of Fluffy Hernandez calling out Renier de Riddier for a middleweight BMF fight. And, Do Bronx has his next fight… he will take on Rafael Fiziev in Rio later this year… Is the 3 month turn around too quick for the #4 ranked lightweight? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're actually the best.
0:02.0	You're actually...
0:03.0	Number one.
0:04.0	That's what I keep telling them, DC.
0:06.0	I keep telling them that.
0:08.0	You got great, you got great.
0:10.0	Your skills are so good.
0:12.0	You're a great analyst.
0:14.0	But you literally just created three new human beings in the UFC. What is the significance of winning the UFC championship now to you?
0:28.6	If I say like it's a big thing for me, it will be life.
0:36.6	But for me, it's most important to thing for me. It's real life. But for me, most important to have
0:39.0	money, make money and make my family and good life, you know. So I think about my opponent
0:47.0	to win a go against him and the most important to beat a guy. It's not important to have a belt.
1:00.0	Daniel, I love guys like this, but there is something frightening about a guy like this. Like, it's a lot easier to play a game when it's for money, or when it's for appreciation.
1:05.0	It's a lot different than that than when you have a true competitor that finds himself in a situation where there's a huge crowd
1:12.2	in a whole pot of gold. The guy that would be there regardless of the crowd or regardless of the
1:17.6	gold, that's your true competitor. That's the one I admired the most. I love, but there was
1:23.5	something the way he said, he made it like a spooky character from a 1980s horror film.
1:28.9	I love his words, though.
1:30.1	I love this message,
1:31.1	but I'm not sure I want to put a PG warning
1:33.3	on any kids going out and seeing it.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 21 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from ESPN Radio, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of ESPN Radio and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.