Khamzat Chimaev has long been one of the most feared names in the UFC, a reputation that matched his place in the pound-for-pound rankings.
But this past Saturday night, he suffered the first defeat of his career, losing the middleweight title to Sean Strickland at UFC 328.
Afterward, Chimaev told Dana White that he was done fighting at middleweight and planned to move up to light heavyweight.
However, not long after making that statement, Chimaev appeared to change his mind. He hinted at wanting an immediate rematch with Strickland and asked the new champion to let him know when he’s ready to fight again.
Khamzat Chimaev loses 7 places in pound-for-pound rankings
Despite a strong start, Chimaev faded as the fight wore on, allowing Strickland to work his way back into the contest. The score was even going into the final round, which was tightly contested.
Chimaev’s teammate and cornerman Arman Tsarukyan said after the bout that they got “submitted by the judges” and questioned how the fight was scored.
Even though ‘Borz’ entered as one of the most feared names in MMA, Saturday night’s loss hit his standing hard. He took a big fall in the pound-for-pound rankings afterward.
He had been sitting at number three before facing Strickland. But after losing in Newark, he slipped seven spots down to number ten.
Strickland, meanwhile, wasn’t even listed in the pound-for-pound top 10 before this fight. Now he’s jumped all the way up to seventh after becoming only the second man ever to win back-to-back middleweight titles.
New face emerges in the Welterweight Top 10 following UFC 328
Yaroslav Amosov has broken into the top 10 of the welterweight rankings after an impressive submission win over Joel Alvarez. It was his second straight victory in the promotion and built on momentum he’s been gathering for a while.
Before the fight, Dustin Poirier spoke highly of Amosov, even saying he was the closest thing to Khabib Nurmagomedov currently in MMA.
At 32, Amosov now looks to be only a fight or two away from challenging for Islam Makhachev’s 170lb title.
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