Khaos Williams | Ready to Crack the Code

The Performance of the Night win was his first finish since he picked up another bonus check for halting Miguel Baeza in November of 2021, and it was a reminder that the 30-year-old has some of the best hands in the welterweight division. Yet despite being from Detroit and having photos with some of boxing’s best, like Gervonta Davis, Zab Judah and Caleb Plant, on his Instagram feed, the sweet science came in second to MMA in his life.

“I thought about it,” Williams said of boxing. “I grew up watching boxing, I started boxing, and it's just that things didn't always go as planned. That's just how life goes sometimes. Everything don't always go as planned. I love boxing, but I feel like mixed martial arts was just more of my calling. Also, when it comes to boxing, in my younger years I was more in the streets coming up, so I didn't have the guidance; I didn't have that person pushing me. And when it comes to boxing, they really start when you are younger a lot of times.” 

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Williams has no regrets when it comes to his choice of combat sport, and why should he with a 15-3 pro record that includes six UFC victories. Things are going just fine for “The OxFighter,” and while Detroit is known as a boxing town, he’s doing his part to make it a mixed martial arts town, as well.

“Every time I'm in there, man, I'm representing,” he said. “There’s a lot of history, and we’re coming. And I'm always coming to bring it. When I'm coming into the gym, more kids are knowing me and looking up to me, so it just gives me more motivation.”

And no pressure.

“There's never no pressure,” Williams said. “I love it. Even if it was, I'm the type of person and type of fighter that I feel like I perform better under pressure anyway.”

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Well, fighting the 16-1 Bonfim on three weeks’ notice has to be a little pressure.

“It's a little pressure, but when you stay ready, you don't got to get ready,” he said. “Shoot, I made my debut on two weeks’ notice. When I fought with Razak, I fought on two weeks’ notice. When I fought Michel Pereira, it was on three weeks’ notice. So this ain't nothing to me. It's my mindset. And I feel like a lot of fighters, they’re not on my level when it come to my mindset and that's what they got to get to. Everybody is physically there for the most part. And we’re mentally strong; we’re all fighters. A lot of us came from nothing. But I think it's just different. I don't even think outside the box. How my mind operates, I don't even see a box.”

In other words, he doesn’t see limits to where he can go in the coming years, and he never has. I remind him that after his 2021 win over Matthew Semelsberger, he told me that life is a marathon. So what part of the race is he at now?

“Don't forget, they said that turtle won a race, man,” Williams said. “And I’m over that halfway mark. It's time to reach a new level after this one. I'm not at the finish line yet. The finish line is that belt, but I'm a little over that middle. We’re there. I’ve been in the UFC a little minute now, I showed the fans who I am, and now this is just that hump I got to get over to reach the next level. Like I said, I got this 16-1 test, and once I solve this test, we’re on to the next level.”

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That’s where all the fun starts.

“I'm going to quote Kobe (Bryant). Like he said, I feel like the time is now. 2025, it's that time. I'm 30, and it's time to go ahead and have a breakout year this year and just add more bodies to the body count, add some more highlights to the highlight reel and just let people know I’m making my way. Who’s gonna stop me?”