Khamzat Chimaev’s Injury And Future Plans – What’s Next?
UFC middleweight Khamzat Chimaev will have surgery on his hand after sustaining an injury in his fight against Kamaru Usman at UFC 294.
Chimaev faced off against Usman in a co-main event attraction as the latter took the fight on ten days’ notice. Chimaev had been on course to face Paulo Costa. However, the latter withdrew from the fight due to injury as Usman stepped in.
Despite moving up from welterweight and the lack of preparation time, Usman was more than a match for Chimaev. The first round was very strong for Usman. But Chimaev grew stronger as the fight progressed on his way to a majority decision win. Following the fight, Chimaev disclosed that he had injured his hand, which will keep him out for the foreseeable future.
Chimaev’s Injury
“I’m gonna do a surgery, operation, in one-two weeks. After that, do the recovery, come back, smash somebody,” Chimaev
The victory over Usman kept his undefeated record, which stretched to 7-0. And provided that the recovery goes well, Chimaev could face the winner of Sean Strickland vs. Dricus Du Plessis for the right to win the middleweight title. And that appears to be the aim moving forward.
“Strickland, [I’m] coming for him. If you stay there, man, coming for you too. He works hard, deserves it, the guy is always in the gym, now he got the belt. He has a good team, good coach, I have been there, training with that guy. They deserve that belt. He has been active, fights with everybody. I don’t know why [the UFC] is waiting. Give that chance to me. They are hiding that belt from me. Anyway, like I said, when I smash everybody, they have to give that belt to me,” Chimaev stated
Chimaev’s Plans
With that being said, Chimaev was targeting a comeback at UFC 300. The historic event is set to go ahead in April, with a huge anticipation over who could make the card. So far, Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar have all been ruled out by Dana White.
Meanwhile, Dustin Poirier has also expressed his desire to be on the card. And Chimaev has now become the latest name to be linked with a fight on the card. Outside of that, Chimaev has ruffled the feathers of Colby Covington. The duo had been linked with a fight at welterweight for sometime. However, it never got made, much to the annoyance of Convington. And the fighter put that blame on Chimaev’s inability to make the welterweight limit.
“They were looking at setting up that fight with that motherf***** Khamzat Chimaev, but he’s unprofessional, he’s a clown. He’s out there laughing when he’s missing weight by 10 pounds, making a fool of this publicly-traded beautiful company of the UFC, making a fool laughing while you’re ruining their main event pay-per-view. So, he’s not accountable, he’s not someone they can trust in that spotlight,” Convington stated
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