Flip flop!
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight champion, Khamzat Chimaev, suffered the first loss of his professional career (and his title) this past weekend (Sat., May 9, 2026), dropping a razor-close split decision to Sean Strickland in UFC 328’s main event inside Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
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Immediately after the fight, UFC CEO Dana White revealed that Chimaev told him he planned to move up to Light Heavyweight and leave the Middleweight division behind.
Apparently, those plans didn’t last very long.
Less than a week later, Chimaev has reportedly changed course completely and is now laser-focused on reclaiming his title from Strickland.
“The rematch with Sean Strickland is the only fight that Khamzat wants, he is obsessed with it,” Chimaev’s team told ESPN. “That’s the only fight he will accept right now.”
Chimaev’s brother, Artur Chimaev, doubled down on that stance and revealed the team already has a target date in mind.
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“We’ve requested a rematch with Strickland,” Artur told Sports.ru. “There’s an event in Abu Dhabi in October, and we want to do it there. 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.”
Artur also shed more light on the brutal weight cut Chimaev endured ahead of UFC 328.
“There was a problem with the weight cut,” Artur explained. “The question became whether to cancel the fight or take the risk. When there was [2.7 pounds] left, his body shut down. Oxygen deprivation. 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.”
Still, there are several obstacles standing in the way of an immediate rematch.
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Strickland revealed after UFC 328 that he suffered a shoulder injury during fight week that worsened during the fight, meaning his timeline for a return remains unclear. The newly crowned champion has also publicly stated he no longer wants to fight outside the United States and recently hinted he’d prefer a title defense against Nassourdine Imavov because he “believes in the rankings.”
Then again, this is the UFC — and the promotion loves rematches.
With how close the fight was and how massive Chimaev has become as a star, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the UFC run it right back.
