Khamzat Chimaev has indicated he’d like a rematch with Sean Strickland following his bitter middleweight title defeat on Sunday afternoon.
The Russian wrecking ball’s reign as middleweight champ came to a stunning end in the main event of UFC 328 in New Jersey.
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After a competitive back-and-forth battle, the judges scored it 48-47, 48-47, 47-48 in favour of the American, giving Chimaev the first loss of his career.
The hotly-contested five-round war seems to have set the stage for a rematch sometime later this year – and it seems like that’s exactly what “Borz” is gunning for.
Following the fight, Chimaev took to social media to post a cryptic message directed at Strickland.
“See you again soon.”
He doubled-down on Monday, writing: “Let me know when you are ready @SStricklandMMA.”
The comments seem to contradict what Dana White told the press following the title fight.
After leaving the Octagon, Chimaev reportedly walked past the UFC boss and revealed to him that he wanted to move up to the light heavyweight division.
“I think he had a rough weight cut,” White told the media post-fight.
“He literally walked up to me after the fight and said, ‘I wanna move up. I don’t want to fight at this weight class anymore.’
“Him moving up is exciting.
“That was it. He just said, ‘I don’t wanna fight at this weight again. I wanna move up.’
“Ever since Fight Island, he’s gone on a run, been undefeated, won a world title, but the level of success and lifestyle make it tough.”
Chimaev had already spoken of his interest in moving up to 205 pounds and certainly seemed to struggle to make the weight for Sunday’s fight.
Strickland even accused Chimaev of not making weight following the official weigh-ins.
Another fighter eyeing a shot at Strickland is the #2-ranked middleweight Nassourdine Imavov.
Imavov, who has a longstanding beef with the American, is on a six-fight unbeaten streak in the UFC with his last loss coming to Strickland in 2023.
After Sunday’s main event, Imavov took to social media to fire a shot at the new champ: “I’m gonna put your lights out @SStricklandMMA.”
It appears that this is the fight that Strickland wants once his body has healed from Sunday’s war.
“Me and my girl, we’ve been in camp for over six months,” Strickland said.
“You guys know how camp is. We don’t do things on weekends. We don’t travel. We don’t go out to eat. She’s pretty much my dietician. So, I’m gonna give her a break.
“I think, what did they say? Nassourdine’s next? So, he’s next. I’ll take a little breather. I wanna go support my boy Alex [Pereira] at the White House.
“I wanna watch him make history and get that third belt, but give me a little time, let my broken nose heal and let’s get back in there and get some fights going on.
“We must move forward.”
The main event of UFC 328 was one of the most explosive in modern MMA history, with the promotion forced into taking extraordinary measures to keep them separated ahead of the bout.
Despite the bad blood, Strickland surprisingly buried the hatched with the Russian following the fight, with the pair hugging and Chimaev wrapping the belt around Strickland.
“Unless you’ve experienced it, you just don’t know what it’s like,” Strickland explained at the press conference.
Sean Strickland SHOCKS the world again! | 00:46
“When you go and fight another man, bro, your soul is just exposed. When you’re [expletive] bleeding and he’s bleeding and I want to quit, he wants to quit. We don’t wanna be there.
“You just have this level of respect for one another that, it transcends race, religion, nationality, country.
“It’s something that you just don’t know. You kind of become someone’s brother after you and him try to die. Win or lose.”