{"id":591002,"date":"2026-04-07T10:11:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T10:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/591002\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T10:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T10:11:08","slug":"khamzat-chimaev-shrugs-off-inactivity-criticism-ahead-of-ufc-328-title-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/591002\/","title":{"rendered":"Khamzat Chimaev shrugs off inactivity criticism ahead of UFC 328 title defence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"106\" data-end=\"282\">UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev has dismissed criticism over his activity levels as he prepares to defend his title against Sean Strickland at UFC 328 on May 9th.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"284\" data-end=\"664\">Chimaev, who faces Strickland in the main event at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, rose rapidly in 2020 with three wins in quick succession, setting a modern UFC record for the fastest three-fight winning streak. However, his output has slowed significantly in recent years, often fighting just once annually due to a combination of health issues and travel restrictions.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"666\" data-end=\"840\">Addressing criticism from fans, Chimaev said: \u201cI don\u2019t care. I\u2019m making millions. These people are just talking and doing nothing,\u201d said Chimaev, according to Beyond The Win and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/latest-news\/434457\/video-ufc-328s-khamzat-chimaev-doesnt-care-about-infrequent-fight-schedule-i-make-more-money-outside-ufc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MMA Mania<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"842\" data-end=\"1089\">He added: \u201cLike, if you do your work, I don\u2019t need to go and watch you and [judge you] on how you do, how often you work out, how much you get. I care about myself, how much I make, and how much I fight,\u201d said Chimaev.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1091\" data-end=\"1452\">Chimaev also indicated that his financial success extends beyond his fighting career, highlighting sponsorship opportunities and commercial ventures as key sources of income. A successful title defence against Strickland could position him for a more active schedule in 2026, including an appearance on the UFC\u2019s annual Abu Dhabi card later in the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev has dismissed criticism over his activity levels as he prepares to defend his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-591002","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"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591002","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=591002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}