Khamzat Chimaev is not simply content to hold the UFC’s 185-pound belt and also desires the crown held by Alex Pereira. The UFC middleweight champion mentioned this during a recent conversation with Aslanbek Badaev. Chimaev is an undefeated professional MMA fighter, and his win in capturing the strap against Dricus du Plessis in August saw ‘Borz’ author one of the most dominant championship wins in mixed martial arts history at UFC 319.
Entering that rarefied air of two-division UFC champions throughout history is such a compelling thing for so many fighters which was expressed by the current middleweight kingpin, as Chimaev said,
“If you ask me, of course, I would love to fight for the second belt. It’s no secret the guy who’s got the belt at 205 pounds now is a very good matchup for me. Except for I should get reckless standing with him…They say he [Pereira] has a lot of power but I’ve never been edged out in that area. He used to fight at 185, too and then moved up to 205. So I would like to fight at light heavyweight. But whether they give me Nassourdine [Imavov], De Ridder, or Hernandez, I don’t care. Just pay me some good money.”
Khamzat Chimaev details aspects of Sean Strickland feud
Khamzat Chimaev is eyeing Alex Pereira but also has had friction with Sean Strickland, who has been training with Pereira in recent times after previously fighting ‘Poatan’ in the UFC cage. The feud between ‘Borz’ and Strickland seems like it’s been building over the years, and Chimaev has pulled back the curtain a bit on that situation.
Strickland and Chimaev previously had training interactions at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas with the seeds for the animosity seemingly being planted then. When Strickland was lined up for a title fight with the aforementioned DDP in a rematch in February with Chimaev being put on the backburner. Sean Strickland then began detailing aspects of past training sessions with the current UFC middleweight champion with Chimaev also giving his perspective.
Khamzat Chimaev gave an account of the Strickland situation on Badaev Podcast. Chimaev mentioned he got angry with Strickland during a training session and said Strickland reportedly was toting a gun around the gym the day after that instance happened.
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