Khamzat Chimaev warns Sean Strickland he's 'coming for him' after UFC 294

26/09/2023 15:00

Khamzat Chimaev thinks he's one win away from challenging for gold.

First up for Chimaev, he has to get past Paulo Costa at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 21. The bout marks Chimaev's return to the middleweight division after his welterweight run was put on hold due to an egregious miss on the scale last September that forced the promotion to reshuffle the top three fights of UFC 279.

Chimaev fights for the first time in more than a year, and during that stretch Israel Adesanya lost the middleweight championship, won it back, and then lost it again to Sean Strickland at UFC 293. With Strickland at the top, the contender race appears to be wide open, and Chimaev expects to get the call for a title fight in the near future if he beats Costa.

"Now it's my time," Chimaev said in his YouTube vlog. "Smash that guy [Costa], then it doesn't matter if it will be Izzy or Strickland or somebody else. We're coming for them."

"Strickland, coming for him," Chimaev continued. "If you stay there, man, coming for you too. He works hard, deserves it, the guy is always in the gym, now he got the belt. He has a good team, good coach, I have been there, training with that guy. They deserve that belt. He has been active, fights with everybody. I don't know why [the UFC] is waiting. Give that chance to me. They are hiding that belt from me. Anyway, like I said, when I smash everybody, they have to give that belt to me."

Despite his weigh-in gaffe, Chimaev still impressed at UFC 279 as he quickly submitted Kevin Holland in an impromptu 180-pound catchweight bout. In total, he has competed twice at middleweight in the UFC, submitting John Phillips in his promotional debut and later needing just 17 seconds to knock out Gerald Meerschaert.

Chimaev has primarily competed as a welterweight though and has yet to face a ranked opponent at 185 pounds. When he takes on Costa, he doesn't expect his performance to suffer from the change of divisions in the slightest.

"It's a different weight class," Chimaev said. "Different power, we eat different, not hungry anymore. At 77 kg, I eat just rice, rice [and] fish, rice [and] chicken, it's crazy. Now, more training than before, more food, more energy, different power, different energy, that's good."

"I fought Gerald Meerschaert in that weight class," Chimaev added. "I smashed that guy with one punch. That's my real power, you know. The guys don't understand that, but it's waiting for them."