{"id":521200,"date":"2026-03-05T22:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T22:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/521200\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T22:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T22:41:11","slug":"khamzat-chimaevs-middleweight-future-doubtful-after-huge-leak-from-ufc-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/521200\/","title":{"rendered":"Khamzat Chimaev&#8217;s middleweight future doubtful after huge leak from UFC legend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A former UFC middleweight champion says Khamzat Chimaev\u2019s days as the division\u2019s champion could be numbered due to a staggering gain.<\/p>\n<p>UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev\u2019s first title defense still hasn\u2019t been finalized more than half a year after his championship victory. Chimaev dethroned Dricus du Plessis by unanimous decision at UFC 319 last year, utilizing his elite wrestling to pitch a shutout inside the Octagon.<\/p>\n<p>Since UFC 319, Chimaev has teased potentially moving up to light heavyweight to fight Alex Pereira, although this was before Pereira vacated the 205-pound belt to move up to heavyweight. Despite Pereira\u2019s light heavyweight leave, Chimaev remains focused on eventually moving up a division and challenging for another title.<\/p>\n<p>Chimaev has a potential showdown with top middleweight Nassourdine Imavov on his radar for his next title defense, despite a recent impressive win by former champion Sean Strickland. UFC CEO Dana White recently claimed that Chimaev will need to defend the belt at least once before exploring a move out of the division.<\/p>\n<p>But a middleweight return for Chimaev might be more difficult after an alleged staggering weight gain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/nassourdine-imavov\/nassourdine-imavov-claims-khamzat-chimaev-injury-has-delayed-middleweight-title-fight\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">during his injury-related hiatus<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Bisping reveals Khamzat Chimaev is a long way from middleweight limit<\/p>\n<p>In a recent appearance on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gShgW2yk8Zs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">TNT Sports<\/a>\u2018 UFC 326 preview show, UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping revealed Chimaev\u2019s walk-around weight that could hinder a middleweight return.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI spoke to him last week; the man\u2019s walking around at 240lbs!\u201d Bisping said of Chimaev.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s gotta shed some weight before he even thinks about defending that belt.\u201d (h\/t <a href=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/2026\/03\/05\/heavyweight-khamzat-chimaev-must-lose-over-50lbs-to-defend-his-title-according-to-michael-bisping\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Bloody Elbow<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Before winning the UFC middleweight title, Chimaev was on the verge of challenging for the welterweight belt, but a botched weight cut at UFC 279. Chimaev was supposed to fight Nate Diaz in the UFC 279 main event before weighing in significantly above the 170-pound limit.<\/p>\n<p>If Bisping\u2019s claims are true, Chimaev\u2019s middleweight days could be numbered. As of this writing, it\u2019s uncertain how long Chimaev will be sidelined to recover from his recent injuries and his middleweight future.<\/p>\n<p>Do you think Khamzat Chimaev will fight at middleweight ever again? Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former UFC middleweight champion says Khamzat Chimaev\u2019s days as the division\u2019s champion could be numbered due to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[11159,64,63,786,4120,41896,785,85,787],"class_list":{"0":"post-521200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-alex-pereira","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-fighting","12":"tag-khamzat-chimaev","13":"tag-michael-bisping","14":"tag-mma","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521200","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=521200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}