Khamzat Chimaev dropped a close split decision to Sean Strickland in the UFC 328 main event, but don’t expect an immediate rematch even if that was something the now-former champion wanted.
Following a back-and-forth battle across five rounds, Chimaev’s first title defense ended with the middleweight belt being wrapped around Strickland’s waist. Post-fight, Chimaev put the belt on Strickland as they squashed their beef and it appears the disdain shared between them went away after they settled their rivalry.
After suffering the first loss of his professional career, Chimaev approached UFC CEO Dana White to share the news that he wouldn’t be gunning for another shot at the middleweight title.
“[Khamzat] literally walked up to me after the fight and said ‘I want to move up. I don’t want to fight in this weight class anymore,’” White revealed at the UFC 328 post-fight press conference.
Chimaev had already teased his interest in moving up to 205 pounds even before his title defense Saturday but it looks like that decision has already been made. Even before he set foot in the octagon, Chimaev appeared to struggle mightily on the scale during the official weigh-ins on Friday with Strickland actually accusing him of failing to make weight for the title fight.
Regardless, Chimaev fought in the UFC 328 main event and after a dominant opening round, his conditioning seemed to fade. Despite the struggles and largely abandoning his wrestling for the majority of the fight, Chimaev still found a second wind and gave Strickland everything he could handle until the final horn sounded.
“What was interesting was the first two times I saw [Khamzat] fight on Fight Island, he used to talk about his standup and his team all the time,” White said about Chimaev’s performance. “I was saying we haven’t seen him stand up and really go toe-to-toe with somebody in a while. But I think he had a rough weight cut.
“He’s a tough guy. He’s a f*cking savage. I would expect him not to roll over and quit.”
While the fight was close throughout, White agreed with the final scorecards that gave Strickland the win and crowned him a two-time UFC middleweight champion.
“I had it two to two going into the last round,” White said. “I thought Strickland won the last round.”
While Strickland is moves forward at 185 pounds with a list of contenders already lining up to face him, Chimaev looks to break new ground at light heavyweight when he competes again.
White was non-committal about the kind of competition Chimaev might get in his 205-pound debut, but he knows Chimaev is definitely a great addition to the light heavyweight division.
“I’m not even thinking about [who he’ll fight next],” White said. “But him moving up is exciting.”
