{"id":501093,"date":"2026-02-24T14:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T14:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/501093\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T14:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T14:12:07","slug":"imavov-has-hate-in-his-heart-for-strickland-i-will-leave-him-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/501093\/","title":{"rendered":"Imavov has \u2018hate in his heart\u2019 for Strickland: \u2018I will leave him dead\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a sane world, Khamzat Chimaev would be defending his middleweight title against No. 1 contender Nassourdine Imavov in the next few months. But since there\u2019s been non-stop churn involving champs moving up<\/a> in weight class, that may not be what happens. Instead, Imavov is hyping himself up<\/a> to face Sean Strickland instead.<\/p>\n

Strickland just got back into the contender\u2019s circle after an impressive win over Anthony \u201cFluffy\u201d Hernandez at UFC Houston (watch the TKO finish here).<\/a> Sure, that makes \u201cTarzan\u201d just 2-2 over his last four, but Sean\u2019s ability to generate press (good or bad)<\/a> makes him a leading candidate to jump into another 185 pound title fight. And with the UFC reportedly giving Chimaev a reluctant go-ahead to move to 205 pounds, that sets up Strickland vs. Imavov, a fight that Nassourdine had some opinions about.<\/p>\n

In a new interview with MMA Fighting<\/a> following UFC Houston, Imavov made it clear that it\u2019s title shot or bust, no matter who holds gold.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive fights, 18 months, against all top 10 guys,\u201d Imavov said. \u201cI\u2019ve shown that I can finish, guys. I finished Adesanya, I finished [Jared] Cannonier. I showed that the only place where I belong is the title fight, and that\u2019s it. And then we\u2019ll see according to what they do, but like I said, I don\u2019t change my mind. The only thing I deserve is the belt, and I\u2019m willing to fight for the belt and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in the UFC for the belt, for nothing else, no awareness or no money or whatever. I\u2019m here for the belt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imavov then turned his attention to Strickland, who he\u2019d rather fight over Chimaev. Not only does Strickland hold a 2023 decision win over Imavov, Imavov is also not a fan of the way Strickland talks about Muslims.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the UFC call me tomorrow with the hate I have in my heart, of course it will be Sean Strickland,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then I can fight Khamzat or whatever. But what I have in my heart right now is to erase this defeat, this loss I had a few years ago, and beat this guy because I hate him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like the way he speaks. I don\u2019t like the way he thinks. I don\u2019t like the way he speaks about my people. So like I said, and even in terms of fighting, like I can tell you guys, both of those fights will be world wars. Both of those fights will be crazy. But the one with Sean? I will leave him dead inside the cage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strickland sounded less than excited about an Imavov rematch<\/a> in an interview with Full Send MMA.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen dude, I\u2019ve moved past you,\u201d Strickland said. \u201cI\u2019ve beat you. Relax. Either you get the belt or I get the belt. Once you get the belt, I\u2019ll take it from you. Once I get the belt, you\u2019ll lose to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imavov certainly deserves to be next for the title, but \u2018deserves\u2019 has very little to do with the UFC title picture these days. The first thing we need to do is wait and see whether Khamzat Chimaev moves up to light heavyweight, and let\u2019s be clear: rumors swirling that \u201cBorz\u201d has been offered a title shot at 205 have truth to them, whether they pan out or not.<\/p>\n

If that does happen, the fight everyone should watch carefully is Israel Adesanya vs. Joe Pyfer on March 28th. If Adesanya beats Pyfer and looks good doing it, we could see UFC setting up the much-awaited Adesanya vs. Strickland fight for the vacant middleweight title. Not that we approve! Don\u2019t shoot the messenger. But UFC is very \u2018What have you done for me lately,\u2019 and if the answer is \u2018Sit and demand a title shot\u2019 when there are other options, things may not work out well for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a sane world, Khamzat Chimaev would be defending his middleweight title against No. 1 contender Nassourdine Imavov…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85,1396],"class_list":["post-501093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501093","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=501093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}