Coach reveals what weight Chimaev will fight at next
‘Borz’ is looking for a new fight.
Khamzat Chimaev is going to fight at middleweight for his next UFC appearance.
According to his coach Andreas Michael, ‘Borz’ has decided to move from welterweight to middleweight for now. Though the two-division marvel has competed at 170 and 185, his recent weight miss against Nate Diaz for their welterweight fight at UFC 279 this past September prompted a change in weight class.
“He’s getting strong for the new weight class,” said Michael in a recent interview with Submission Radio. “It’s middleweight, he’s going to fight at middleweight. But if the title comes at welterweight, miracles can happen — and they will happen. We will get him down, don’t worry.”
With the weight class settled, Chimaev needs an opponent. However, the Allstar Training Center talent says he has struggled to find one, claiming several fighters, including Colby Covington, have rejected him.
If his options are limited, then Michael says his pupil should focus on getting a fight with either the No. 1 contender or champion at middleweight.
“People say they want to fight, but they don’t want to fight,” said Michael. “People price themselves out. And there’s some people that, of course they want to fight, as well, but they don’t make sense, you know? There’s a lot of factors into things. We’re not just going to fight just for the fight’s sake. Things have to pave the way forward. Of course, there’s a lot of people that want to fight Khamzat. And if he just wanted to, he’d just be like, ‘Oh, who’s in the top 20?’
“But I think we’re past that, aren’t we? I think we need to get the top dogs right now, or go for a title fight,” continued Michael. “The top dogs, like, the No. 1 contender or a title fight. And that’s why there’s not a lot of choices out there at the moment, because our spectrum has closed. It was broad before. Now it’s closed down. We’re honing in. We want the No. 1 contender or the champ — preferably the champ. And I think he’s earned it.”
Chimaev has challenged newly crowned champion Alex Pereira, tweeting that a fight with him would be ‘easy money.’ At this time, ‘Po Atan’ has his next assignment scheduled as he defends against Israel Adesanya at UFC 287 in April.
About the author: Kristen King is a writer for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016. (full bio)