Khamzat Chimaev has asked the UFC to book him in for a middleweight title rematch against Sean Strickland.
There had been conflicting stories on what Chimaev wanted to do next ever since the Chechen fighter lost a close decision to Strickland at UFC 328 on May 9th. UFC CEO Dana White said after the event that a drained Chimaev had told him he wanted to move to light heavyweight. But after a few days of introspection, word started to circulate that maybe Chimaev didn’t want to limp away from middleweight
after such a poor showing.
Now Dana White is sharing an update on Khamzat that confirmed his desire to get his belt back.
“Khamzat, right now, is asking for the rematch with Strickland,” White said on a podcast with former MLB player Bret Boone. “That’s what he wants. We don’t know what we’re going to do yet.”
Much hay has been made over the past few weeks on how bad Khamzat Chimaev’s weight cut was coming into UFC 328. As the narrative goes, the UFC took their sweet time deciding whether Khamzat would move up to light heavyweight and fight Jiri Prochazka at UFC 327 or defend the middleweight title against Sean Strickland at UFC 328. They decided to go with the middleweight option, leaving Chimaev with over 45 pounds to cut for Strickland.
According to campmate T.J. Dillashaw, that cut nearly killed Chimaev, which would certainly explain his tepid performance against Strickland.
But does the UFC really want to run back Chimaev vs. Strickland, a fight that wasn’t that exciting and left people feeling like they were sold wolf tickets? We get why Khamzat would want it, but why would the UFC give Chimaev the chance to win back the middleweight title just so he can abandon it and move up to light heavyweight?
At some point in some division, you need a champion who isn’t just looking to parlay their current belt into a double championship or boxing pitch.
