{"id":938280,"date":"2026-10-23T17:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T17:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/938280\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T17:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T17:22:11","slug":"khamzat-chimaev-sends-blunt-message-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/938280\/","title":{"rendered":"Khamzat Chimaev sends blunt message on\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Khamzat Chimaev opens the door to a potential title fight with Nassourdine Imavov, admitting the financial rewards could influence his decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Khamzat Chimaev and Nassourdine Imavov had previously been hesitant to face each other because of their roots in the Caucasus region and their shared culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, Chimaev, who wants to reclaim the 185-pound throne, has expressed that he remains open to fighting Imavov for the title if <a href=\"https:\/\/mmasucka.com\/..\/..\/ufc\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UFC<\/a> middleweight champion Sean Strickland vacates the belt.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Khamzat Chimaev reveals financial factor behind potential Nassourdine Imavov title fight<\/p>\n<p>Chimaev is set to wrestle Robbie Lawler at <a href=\"https:\/\/mmasucka.com\/..\/..\/raf\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">RAF<\/a> 14. During the pre-event press conference, he was asked whether he would accept a title fight against Imavov if the UFC offered it following Strickland&#8217;s potential departure from the division.<\/p>\n<p>The reporter pointed out that Chimaev had previously been reluctant to fight Imavov and asked whether a championship opportunity would change his stance.<\/p>\n<p>Chimaev did not rule out the possibility of facing Imavov for a potentially vacant title. He simply highlighted the financial benefits of being a champion, suggesting that a title opportunity could outweigh his previous hesitation about facing \u2018The Sniper\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhatever gives me the money. I think bro, it&#8217;s all I can say when you have the belt you&#8217;re paid more,\u201d Khamzat Chimaev said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Check out Khamzat Chimaev\u2019s comments below:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/De0N5OVoMGM\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>Imavov is considered next in line for a title shot against Strickland, and he even teased that he has a date and that it will be a title fight. However, a few weeks ago, \u2018The Frenchman\u2019 confronted the reigning champion and called on him to sign the contract for the fight. The video of the confrontation has gone viral, and it\u2019s clear the fight has not been made official yet.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Strickland has recently criticized the UFC heavily over its pay and has threatened to vacate the title and potentially move to boxing after completing his UFC contract.<\/p>\n<p>While Chimaev is now open to facing Imavov, his primary target remains Strickland, and he is adamant about chasing a rematch with the reigning champion, to whom he lost the title at UFC 328.<\/p>\n<p>Khamzat Chimaev eyes big payday in potential Sean Strickland rematch<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to MMA Fighting\u2019s Mike Heck, Chimaev made it clear that he is willing to follow Strickland to another weight class if the champion moves up. The Chechen-born fighter acknowledged the financial incentive behind the potential matchup, suggesting that a second fight with Strickland could be lucrative, and that is the reason he is chasing the rematch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf he goes up to 205, I\u2019ll go after him and take his head,\u201d Chimaev told MMA Fighting\u2019s Mike Heck. &#8220;I go straight after . If he goes higher weight, I\u2019ll go to heavyweight. This guy is not going to run from me&#8230; They\u2019re gonna pay good for our fight. That\u2019s why I go after . It\u2019s a big check.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Khamzat Chimaev opens the door to a potential title fight with Nassourdine Imavov, admitting the financial rewards could&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":938281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,4120,785,80736,43022,85,787],"class_list":["post-938280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-khamzat-chimaev","tag-mma","tag-nassourdine-imavov","tag-sean-strickland","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938280","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=938280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/938281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}