Overview

• Chimaev has brought in Sam Calavitta to lead a revamped strength and conditioning program and is isolating with strict nutrition, sleep and recovery protocols to avoid illness.
• Du Plessis’s camp under Morne Visser is drilling wrestling defense to blunt Chimaev’s pressure, with Visser branding his stand-up as one-dimensional.
• Chael Sonnen likened Chimaev to Fedor Emelianenko to argue that exhaustion does not necessarily slow his relentless pace.
• Michael Bisping dismissed doubts over Chimaev’s visa complications and health narrative, pointing to cleared work visa arrangements and strict preventive measures.
• Predictions among insiders remain split, with figures like Gerald Meerschaert and Din Thomas favoring Du Plessis’s endurance and movement in deep rounds if Chimaev’s pace dips.