Jason Burgos
It sure didn’t take long for Khamzat Chimaev to change his mind on what he wants to do next after his loss on Saturday night at UFC 328.
This weekend, Chimaev entered the first defense of his middleweight title as a sizable favorite against former champion Sean Strickland. Yet it did not take long to see why the American was a popular upset pick, as he was able to stuff takedowns and force a lot of the fight into a standup war.
“Borz” was unable to dominate with his wrestling, and after five hard-fought rounds, he came up short and lost his title by split decision. Before the bout, reports suggested that Chimaev cut around 40 pounds, and he looked in rough shape during Friday’s weigh-ins. Barely making the 185-pound limit.
He had mentioned before the fight that he would like to move up to 205 pounds and allegedly told UFC CEO Dana White afterwards that he is done at middleweight. Well, it seems that decision has been totally walked back.
Khamzat Chimaev now wants a rematch with Sean Strickland
“The rematch with Sean Strickland is the only fight that Khamzat wants. He is obsessed with it,” his team told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. “That’s the only fight he will accept right now.”
That is a surprising 180 by the former champion after all the evidence and rumors suggested he was headed to light heavyweight. However, Chimaev did mention that because of the heated build toward Saturday’s UFC 328 main event, he was set to get the biggest payday of his career.
Furthermore, there are many MMA experts who thought Chimaev did enough to get the win on Saturday night. Maybe the idea of a better weight cut, another large payday, and a good chance of revenge finally sank into the 32-year-old’s head.
