Khamzat Chimaev (15-0) has hinted that his first UFC middleweight title defense against former champ Sean Strickland on May 9 in Newark, NJ may be his last as he teased a move up in weight following the fight..
Chimaev has competed at both welterweight and middleweight before, and difficulties making the 170-pound limit pushed him up to 185lbs full-time. He claimed the middleweight title with a unanimous decision win over Dricus du Plessis at last August and with Nassourdine Imavov likely next in line for a title shot, Chimaev sees little incentive to stay at middleweight since Strickland has already beaten Imavov, making a potential title defense less appealing as he could instead target bigger fights at light-heavyweight and possibly even heavyweight.
“If I stay there (at middleweight) and I beat Sean, Imavov was already beat by Sean, so what’s the point? We just go and (play) Russian Roulette? I just want big fights. Alex Pereira, if he loses (at UFC Freedom 250 to Ciryl Gane), he’s going to come down. He’s a big fight, big name. If not, I go to heavyweight, maybe there as well. I need big names, big money. I came here to do some big things, not just stay here and take the easy fights,” Chimaev said