Ever since his 2020 UFC debut, when he earned a trio of dominant victories in a stretch of just 65 days, Khamzat Chimaev has been the promotion's greatest enigma as a fighter who is capable of magic in one performance only to look surprisingly human in his next amid a somewhat consistent stretch of inactivity.

It wasn't a big climb for Khamzat Chimaev-- he already was the No. 2-ranked middleweight -- but there's something symmetrical about his short climb to the top of the ESPN divisional rankings just days after becoming UFC champion.