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“I’m in Las Vegas — I’m going to fight in Las Vegas — but a year ago, I didn’t think about that,” he added. “Everything has turned to crazy.”
While he has embraced his newfound celebrity and status as a rising star within the mixed martial arts world, Chimaev has kept things very simple in the two months since his debut, focusing on sharpening his skills, honing his craft, and continuing his push to climb the ranks in the UFC.
Though his follower counts on social media have exploded, the soft-spoken upstart has remained out of the spotlight since etching his name in the record books earlier this summer, taking a two-week holiday before returning to Sweden, where he trains alongside perennial contender Alexander Gustafsson and numerous other UFC veterans at Allstars Training Center in Stockholm.
“For two weeks I was in Barcelona, relaxing after my fights, but then I came back to start the hard work,” explained Chimaev, who has finished all eight of the opponents he’s faced to this point in his career. “Now I live close to the gym, in a hotel.
“People come to me to take pictures, which is nice; it’s nice to talk to people,” he said somewhat bashfully, clearly not yet fully adjusted to being a recognizable face on the streets of Stockholm and abroad. “Something is different now, but my hard work remains the same. I do my hard work and I’m going to fight with everybody now.”