Khamzat Chimaev, the undefeated Chechen middleweight champion, appears to be settling for the fight he can get. Having defeated Dricus Du Plessis to win the middleweight strap, ‘Borz’ has yet to defend his title once. And from the looks of things, it could be Sean Strickland who gets the opportunity. Why? Because Chimaev responded to ‘Tarzan’s heated callout after the latter defeated Anthony Hernandez at UFC Houston on Saturday.

“Habibi, calm down, I destroyed the guy who beat you twice, American b—h,” Chimaev wrote on X. 

The UFC middleweight champion is referring to Dricus Du Plessis, who defeated Sean Strickland twice. The first came when ‘DDP’ beat ‘Tarzan’ via split decision at UFC 297 in January 2024, securing the UFC middleweight title. And the second came during their rematch at UFC 312 in February 2025 in Sydney, Australia, where Du Plessis secured a unanimous decision win to retain his title at the time. 

The tweet from Khamzat Chimaev came after Strickland went on a rant during the UFC Houston post-fight press conference. A reporter had asked Strickland, who had trained with Chimaev in the past, about a statement Chimaev made, claiming that Strickland doesn’t like him because he once made the American tap during a training session. However, the Xtreme Couture standout claimed the exact opposite had happened. 

“I made him quit training,” Strickland said during the presser. “Witnesses in the audience, where’s [Strickland’s coach] Eric [Nicksick] at? I made him quit. No, we were doing positional grappling… ‘Alright, start on my back,’ and I was like, first round, I let him f—king choke me because no one gives a f—k.

He added that Chimaev isn’t interested in training with the cream of the crop. Rather, the Chechian spends his time in the gym pushing less qualified fighters around. ‘Tarzan’ even referenced rumors about Chimaev’s potential move to light heavyweight to face Jiri Prochazka, claiming that Chimaev just wants to run and hide. Strickland had also called out Chimaev for a fight directly after his win.

“If Chimaev gets off the bench. I’d like to piece that little Chechen w—e,” Strickland said in the cage, per MMA Mania. “You never know with him. You never know with that guy, but that’s what I want.”

Regardless, the rumor about Chimaev moving to light heavyweight has now been clarified, as UFC CEO Dana White provided an update about Chimaev’s future.

Dana White wants Khamzat Chimaev to do this first

Chimaev had been publicly campaigning for a superfight against light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. However, with Pereira moving to heavyweight, which White said he would support, rumors suggested Chimaev would face Jiri Prochazka at UFC 327 in his light heavyweight debut. During the UFC Houston post-fight presser, White revealed what he wants the Chechen fighter to do first.

“I’d like to see him defend his title at a weight first,” White said. “I’d like to see him defend his title before he talks about jumping around. You’re going to keep going up in weight divisions without defending? I’d rather see him defend.”

With exchanges with Strickland, a title fight between them looks more realistic. Besides Strickland, though, there’s UFC’s No. 2-ranked middleweight Nassourdine Imavov, who can step in to challenge Chimaev for the title. 

That being said, do you think Khamzat Chimaev will fight Sean Strickland for his first title defense? And if he did, do you think ‘Tarzan’ stands a chance against a man who defeated Dricus Du Plessis?