Khamzat Chimaev is confident that he will get the next title shot against Sean Strickland, recalling that UFC “promised” the fight to him. In line with this, the Russian warned the champ about facing him, saying he “should be afraid” as he fights “for all Muslims.”
Strickland is set to make his first title defense versus Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 this month. The spot was expected to be given by Chimaev after he was announced as the No. 1 contender for defeating Kamaru Usman at UFC 294 in October 2023, but it was not pushed. Nonetheless, the No. 9-ranked middleweight fighter has high hopes he’ll be next in line.
“One hundred percent,” Chimaev said in a recent interview. “He (Strickland) has a good fighter who he’s fighting with, Du Plessis, and if he wins against this guy, for sure we’re going to fight 100 percent. They promised for me that fight, so now we’re going to wait who’s winning the fight and then take the belt.”
“Borz” is confident in facing the champ, especially since both of them have trained at Xtreme Couture. In line with this, Chimaev issued a warning to the champ, explaining that fighters like Strickland should be scared of facing him who fight for faith and his people.
“He has to be afraid,” Chimaev said. “Inshallah we fight with everyone, so the fights in the cage is not that big thing. If we can make some people happy who is going through hard times and all Muslims watching us and me and Khabib, all the Muslim fighters, Belal.
“We know all of the kids, our kids, they’re watching. They want to be like us, want to be strong people. Inshallah, we try to be a good picture for them. Sean Strickland, all these guys, they should be afraid of us. We fight not just for us like they do. We fight for all Muslims.”
