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Khamzat Chimaev is set for a middleweight battle against Paulo Costa; their fight is less than a month away (22nd October). Chimaev’s fans are eagerly waiting for his return; the wait is finally going to come to an end.
Chimaev is ready to ‘smash’ Paulo Costa in what’s expected to be an explosive fight – the winner could get a direct ticket to the top and fight Sean Strickland next for the prestigious middleweight belt.
Chimaev has trained with Sean Strickland before; there’s no animosity between the two. Chimaev has respect for Strickland, and it will be interesting to see if they end up fighting in the near future. Chimaev last fought as a middleweight fighter in 2020; he is a lot more comfortable in this division and is more than ready for the challenge ahead.
Khamzat Chimaev on fighting Sean Strickland
In a recent Vlog video, Khamzat Chimaev shared his thoughts on fighting Paulo Costa and revealed that he wants to fight for the belt next. “Now it’s my time,” Chimaev said, as quoted by mmafighting.com.
“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, 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.
Chimaev on fighting as a middleweight: Anyway, like I said, when I smash everybody, they have to give that belt to me. It’s a different weight class, 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”.