NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - MAY 09: Khamzat Chimaev of Russia prepares to face Sean Strickland in the UFC middleweight championship fight during the UFC 328 event at Prudential Center on May 09, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
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Khamzat Chimaev has had enough of the weight cut to get to 185 pounds. Moments after he lost his UFC middleweight championship to Sean Strickland in the main event of UFC 328 in New Jersey, Chimaev told UFC President Dana White, "I want to move up. I don’t want to fight in this weight class anymore."
White obliged and told the media on hand of Chimaev's intentions. It all seems to make sense considering Chimaev's struggles with weight cuts and the way he seemed to tire in the second and third rounds of his loss to Strickland on Saturday.
Chimaev is said to have cut upwards of 45 pounds to make it to 185 pounds at the weigh-in on Friday. He looked worse for wear and some even suggested he cheated to make weight. That's a conspiracy White seemed to downplay at the post-event presser.
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The cardio fallout was visible from Round 2 forward. Chimaev failed to attempt a single takedown in the third round despite controlling Round 1 with his wrestling, and Strickland out-landed him 43-29 in significant strikes in that frame. Per Bloody Elbow, White said Chimaev "literally walked up to me after the fight" to declare he was done at the weight class — a reaction tied directly to the toll of the cut, not the loss itself.
You could make the argument Chimaev could get an immediate crack at the light heavyweight title. However, newly crown champion Carlos Ulberg is out with a torn ACL. That leaves Magomed Ankalaev and perhaps Khalil Rountree or Dominick Reyes perhaps fighting for an interim title. Perhaps Chimaev faces Jiri Prochazka with the winner getting a title shot. In any case, Chimaev won't be too far out of the title picture at 205.
White's framing at the presser was that there's no immediate title shot, but a "huge fight" coming for Chimaev given his stature. Heavy.com listed the obvious top-15 candidates: Procházka, Ankalaev, Paulo Costa, Jamahal Hill, Reyes, Volkan Oezdemir, and Rountree all fit the "big debut" criteria. Procházka is the cleanest narrative play given he's coming off the brutal UFC 327 loss to Ulberg and would carry rematch energy regardless of who wins next.
Superior grappling usually translates well when moving up a weight class. Chimaev's striking is also a bit better than he gets credit for in most circles. With a proper camp to strengthen himself, he shouldn't have a problem using very similar skills at 205.
Without the brutal cut, the version of Chimaev that walks into 205 should arrive with a fuller gas tank than fans have ever seen. That alone changes the math — his cardio dropoff against Strickland was directly tied to the weight cut, and removing that variable fixes one of the only real holes in his game. The bigger question is durability against natural light heavyweight power, but Rountree has publicly called Chimaev "one of the best in the world" regardless of weight class. The respect from inside the division is real.
Nassourdine Imavov seems like the logical next man up at middleweight. Unfortunately, there aren't a ton of exciting up-and-comers in the division. As for 205, Chimaev injects some much-needed new blood in the division.
Imavov tweeted "I'm gonna put your lights out, Sean Strickland" right after the result, and his five-fight win streak (including high-profile wins over Israel Adesanya and Brendan Allen) makes him the obvious next challenger.
Light heavyweight, meanwhile, has been waiting for a star injection since Alex Pereira moved up to heavyweight, and Ulberg's recovery timeline through 2027 means the division needed a top-of-card story to build around in the meantime. Chimaev fills that gap overnight.
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