Arman Tsarukyan is confident that Khamzat Chimaev can stick around at 185 pounds.
Chimaev suffered the first loss of his pro MMA career in a highly competitive title fight against Sean Strickland at UFC 328. Chimaev put the UFC Middleweight Championship on the line against Strickland and realized that his grappling attempts would be no cake walk from the second round and beyond. Strickland made things a dog fight until the final horn and he was awarded with the split nod.
Tsarukyan was in Chimaev’s corner for the fight and he doesn’t believe “Borz” needs to do anything drastic to keep performing to his standards at middleweight. He explained what must change during an appearance on “The Ariel Helwani Show” (via Bloody Elbow).
“No, he can still make the weight,” Tsarukyan said. “He just needs to adjust a couple of things to come lighter on the last day. Instead of like 15 lbs, he got to be 10 lbs [away from the middleweight limit].
“I mean, people are always going to talk. When he wins, everybody says, ‘Oh, yeah, he did a good job.’ He loses, everybody says, ‘Yeah, he’s doing wrong things. They overtrain.’ But like Khamzat’s last training in the [Sam Calavitta’s] garage was like 15-20 minutes.”
UFC CEO Dana White told reporters that Chimaev initially wanted to move up to the light heavyweight division. Within 24 hours of that quote, Chimaev was calling for a title rematch against Strickland on social media. “Borz” appears to be clamoring for a second chance against the now two-time UFC Middleweight Champion.
White recently told former MLB star Bret Boone that the UFC brass has yet to decide on the next middleweight title fight. Nassourdine Imavov currently waits in the wings, and Strickland would prefer that fight over Chimaev.
Do you think it would be a mistake for Khamzat Chimaev to stick around in the middleweight division, or do you think it’s the right move for now? Sound off in the comments below.
