Contrary to popular belief, Khamzat
Chimaev was reportedly not even considered as a potential
opponent for Sean
Strickland’s first title defense at UFC
297.
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After years of troublesome weight cuts and dominant finishes at
welterweight, Chimaev (13-0) made a move to middleweight last month
opposite Kamaru
Usman, who also made his short notice debut at 185 pounds.
“Borz” picked up a majority decision win over Usman in the co-main
event at UFC 294. While the fight was believed to be a title
eliminator, Chimaev’s victory wasn’t especially decisive.
Strickland (28-5) is now scheduled to defend his throne against
South African standout Dricus Du
Plessis (20-2) in the UFC 297 main event on Jan. 20 in Toronto.
According to Strickland’s manager, Iridium Sports Agency’s Lance
Spaude, Chimaev’s name didn’t come up during UFC 297
conversations.
“Never even brought up in the discussion,” Spaude said on the MMA
Mania „Sound & Pound” podcast. “I don’t really know what Chimaev and
his team are looking to do, but yeah, it wasn’t even really an
option. Maybe they’re looking down the road. Maybe his wrist or
hand is really as bad as they say it is. You hear a bunch of
things. Sean’s a guy who will do what the UFC asks him to do when
they ask him to do it as long as everything naturally makes sense
for him.
Spaude also believes that Strickland’s upcoming opponent Du Plessis
is a tougher matchup than people perceive him to be.
“He is very, very difficult to get a read on because you watch him
and it looks like he’s doing things wrong, he’s not super clean,
he’s not super polished, but he wins and he’s tough and he looks
tired from the first five seconds of the fight, but he runs the
same pace for 15 minutes, maybe 25, we’ll see. I think it’s a
difficult fight. More so than people give Dricus credit for.”
“Stillknocks” is currently on a six-fight winning streak in the
promotion and is coming off a Round 2 technical knockout victory
against former middleweight champion Robert
Whittaker in July at UFC 290.