UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev might have to wait until the second quarter of 2026 to make his first title defense.
Ahead of UFC Qatar on Saturday, Chimaev revealed that he’s headed for surgery
to fix a minor injury in his foot that is going to delay his next fight. Chimaev traveled to Qatar to corner his friend Arman Tsarukyan when he gave the update about the timeline for his return to action.
“My return — after Ramadan,” Chimaev told Adam Zubayraev ahead of UFC Qatar. “Right now, I have a small operation on my foot. I’ll step away from training for a couple of weeks, heal my wound. So we’ll prepare after Ramadan, whoever they give me, I’ll face.”
Ramadan runs from Feb. 17 through March 19, which means Chimaev is almost certainly looking at booking at fight sometime in April or even later depending on the UFC schedule.
Many Muslim fighters opt not to compete around Ramadan — a holy month spent in prayer and fasting from dawn until sunset everyday —which includes UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and numerous others.
Chimaev needing foot surgery obviously exacerbates that situation for him if he’s planning on going under the knife soon and then recovering, which seems to confirm he’s not even going to be available in January or February.
Instead, Chimaev is looking at any time after March 18 for his first title defense.
While nothing has been announced yet by the UFC, Chimaev is most likely going to face Nassourdine Imavov in his next fight. Imavov has rattled off five straight wins including victories over Israel Adesanya and Caio Borralho to put himself in position to battle for UFC gold.
The only obstacle standing in his way right now might be Chimaev’s surgery and subsequent time to recover before observing Ramadan in February and March.
