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Former middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev isn’t making excuses for his loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 328, which was the first of his impressive career. In fact, the Chechen fighter has already publicly challenged Strickland to a rematch.
However, it turns out that there’s a good reason that Chimaev may not have looked his best in the title fight.
Prior to the fight, fans noted that Chimaev looked unhealthy at the weigh-in for the 185-pound bout. That was a bit surprising considering he began his UFC career fighting at 170 pounds, so the cut to 185 pounds should not have been nearly as difficult.
As it turns out, there was a good reason for the difficulty.
Khamzat Chimaev’s Body ‘Shut Down’ Due To Massive Weight Cut
According Chimaev’s brother Artur, in an interview with Sport RU, the middleweight champion had previously agreed to fight Jiri Prochazka at light heavyweight (205 pounds) before being asked to fight Strickland instead.
In preparation for the Prochazka fight, Chimaev had begun to bulk up and got as heavy as 231 pounds. Two weeks prior to the fight against Strickland, he was only down to 214 pounds, meaning that he still had 29 pounds left to cut.
“There was a problem with the weight cut. The question became whether to cancel the fight or take the risk. When there was 1.2 kg left, his body shut down … Oxygen deprivation,” Chimaev’s brother said. His body malfunctioned. We had to stop for an hour because his health wouldn’t allow him to continue… Khamzat himself said he didn’t know how he’d fight in that condition.
“By fight time he had only regained around 5-6 kilograms (11-13 pounds)… Two weeks before the fight he weighed 97 kg (214 pounds).”
Despite that fact, Chimaev is ready to stay down at middleweight and try to regain the belt from Strickland.
“We’ve requested a rematch with Strickland. There’s an event in Abu Dhabi in October, and we want to do it there,” his brother stated. “Khamzat isn’t the type of person to move to another weight class and leave unanswered questions behind. We want the second fight. Right now we have no other goals.”
Would Chimaev have won if not for the massive weight cut? Nobody can say definitively. But if it was as bad as his brother says, it’s easy to see how it would have a dramatic effect on the fight itself.