{"id":32210,"date":"2026-10-11T22:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T22:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/?p=32210"},"modified":"2026-10-11T22:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T22:24:10","slug":"khamzat-chimaev-could-shake-up-light-heavyweight-division-says-longtime-ufc-veteran-i-see-him-sparring-with-heavyweights-all-the-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/?p=32210","title":{"rendered":"Khamzat Chimaev could shake up light heavyweight division, says longtime UFC veteran: &#8220;I see him sparring with heavyweights all the time&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><span class=\"exactmetrics-inline-popular-posts-label\">Trending:<\/span><span class=\"exactmetrics-inline-popular-posts-border\"\/><span class=\"exactmetrics-inline-popular-posts-border-2\"\/>Gable Steveson dealing with mental block since winning gold medal, says Henry Cejudo: \u201cHe\u2019s just not finishing the job after the Olympics\u201d<span class=\"photo-credit\">Zuffa LLC<\/span><\/p>\n<p>One lightweight veteran believes that Khamzat Chimaev can make a big splash in the 205-pound division and possibly beyond.<\/p>\n<p>Chimaev lost the UFC middleweight gold to Sean Strickland back in May in a competitive five-rounder. Initially, UFC CEO Dana White claimed that Chimaev told him he\u2019s done with the 185-pound weight class. \u201cBorz\u201d quickly changed his tune and pounded the table for a rematch with Strickland. It appears Chimaev has moved on from the Strickland fight for now, leaving some to wonder if the former middleweight champion should just move up.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to Helen Yee, Beneil Dariush shared his belief that Chimaev wouldn\u2019t face many issues in the light heavyweight division (via Bloody Elbow).<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI think, obviously, he was complaining about the weight cut. And I think at 205, he would do super well, too. Like, who in the 205 division is going to really give him a hard time? \u201cHe\u2019s going to be just as big. He\u2019s not going to have an issue with size. He\u2019s going to have better cardio because his weight cut\u2019s not going to be miserable. \u201cHe had the \u201985 title, he can get the 205 title, and I know he\u2019s aiming for three belts,\u201d Dariush continued. \u201cYou know, in the future, he could be a heavyweight. I see him sparring with heavyweights all the time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Chimaev\u2019s next bout hasn\u2019t been determined, but Strickland is currently at odds with UFC management over fighter pay. \u201cBorz\u201d may want to keep an eye on that situation, as it may leave the door open for him to get right back in the title picture if things continue to go south. At the moment, Nassourdine Imavov is the general consensus No. 1 contender at 185 pounds.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you think Khamzat Chimaev\u2019s next fight should be contested at middleweight or light heavyweight? Share your opinion in the comments below.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-1 mt-0 os-source\">This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM<\/p>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/ufc\/khamzat-chimaev-could-shake-up-light-heavyweight-division-says-longtime-ufc-veteran-i-see-him-sparring-with-heavyweights-all-the-time\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=khamzat-chimaev-could-shake-up-light-heavyweight-division-says-longtime-ufc-veteran-i-see-him-sparring-with-heavyweights-all-the-time\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trending:Gable Steveson dealing with mental block since winning gold medal, says Henry Cejudo: \u201cHe\u2019s just not finishing the job after the Olympics\u201dZuffa LLC One lightweight veteran believes that Khamzat Chimaev can make a big splash in the 205-pound division and possibly beyond. Chimaev lost the UFC middleweight gold to Sean Strickland back in May in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[342,309,439,2275,306,1361,2235,4008,1677,290,42,1358],"class_list":["post-32210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fighters","tag-chimaev","tag-division","tag-heavyweight","tag-heavyweights","tag-khamzat","tag-light","tag-longtime","tag-shake","tag-sparring","tag-time","tag-ufc","tag-veteran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}