{"id":299837,"date":"2025-11-21T19:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T19:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/299837\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T19:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T19:16:07","slug":"khamzat-chimaev-off-until-april-well-prepare-for-after-ramadan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/299837\/","title":{"rendered":"Khamzat Chimaev off until April: \u2018We\u2019ll prepare for after Ramadan\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">If the UFC wants to kick off it\u2019s 2026 debut <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-news\/381748\/ufc-signs-broadcast-deal-with-paramount-cbs-ends-pay-per-view-model\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">on Paramount\/CBS<\/a> with a bang, they\u2019ll have to do it without the help of their middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Chimaev captured the 185 pound belt at UFC 319 by pinning Dricus du Plessis to the canvas in a dominant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-news\/384138\/nothing-wrong-with-those-stand-ups-in-khamzat-chimaev-vs-dricus-du-plessis-fight\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">snoozer<\/a> of a fight. After the win he called on the UFC to turn him around fast and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-events-ppv\/383470\/khamzat-ready-for-quick-turnaround-for-ufc-321-in-abu-dhabi-despite-inactivity-problems-exuberant-dana-white-on-board\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">put him on UFC 321<\/a> in Abu Dhabi. That obviously didn\u2019t happen, and now it seems like we won\u2019t see \u201cBorz\u201d back until April at the earliest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cMy return? After Ramadan,\u201d Chimaev told Adam Zubayraev in Qatar. \u201cRight now I have a small operation on my foot. I\u2019ll step away from training for a couple of weeks, heal my wound. So we\u2019ll prepare for after Ramadan. Whoever they give me, that\u2019s who I\u2019ll face.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Every year, Ramadan throws a big wrench into the UFC\u2019s scheduling. The Muslim holy month runs from February 17th to March 19th in 2026, and most devout fighters shut down their training camps and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/2024\/2\/12\/24071366\/nope-khamzat-chimaev-shuts-down-ufc-300-rumors-not-fighting-in-ramadan-anymore-mma\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">turn down bookings<\/a> rather than try to train through the day when they have to fast. That includes a lot of fighters from Russia and Dagestan including champs Islam Makhachev and Khamzat Chimaev.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Now we have confirmation from Chimaev that he won\u2019t be able to fight in January or February due to his foot, and then March due to Ramadan. It\u2019ll be at least April when he can return, which will make it eight months since his last defense. After arriving in the UFC and blazing through three fights in two months, Chimaev has had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/2024\/10\/21\/24275901\/what-happened-khamzat-chimaev-borz-breaks-down-immunity-illness-booted-him-ufc-event\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">just three fights<\/a> in the last three years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">For a guy who keeps talking about beating multiple challengers in one night and turning around quickly for another fight, that glacial pace doesn\u2019t seem to be changing. And the middleweight division is poorer for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If the UFC wants to kick off it\u2019s 2026 debut on Paramount\/CBS with a bang, they\u2019ll have to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-299837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}