Khamzat Chimaev hopes biggest profession payday at UFC 328 is his last fight at middleweight

Khamzat Chimaev recently addressed his future plans ahead of his first middleweight title defense.

Chimaev’s coach said that he asked his fighter to ignore moving up a weight class in the intervening time to be able to give attention to the duty at hand.

‘Borz’ is about to headline his second consecutive numbered card this weekend when he puts his title and undefeated record on the road against Sean Strickland.

Even with a highly-anticipated grudge match right across the corner, others have already began making pitches for Chimaev fighting for a belt at light heavyweight.

If Khamzat Chimaev wins at UFC 328, what would you wish to see him do next?

‘Borz’ has consistently spoken about wanting to maneuver as much as 205 kilos

Khamzat Chimaev says he’d wish to move as much as light heavyweight after UFC 328 due to pizza

While Khamzat Chimaev recently expressed interest in boxing Conor McGregor, he’s spoken about wanting to maneuver as much as light heavyweight for a while.

The division’s lack of an lively champion because of Carlos Ulberg’s injury status only makes this move much more prone to occur within the near future.

When chatting with the media during UFC 328 fight week, Chimaev was asked whether he thinks May 9 shall be the last time we see him compete at 185 kilos.

“I hope so, I wish to eat pizza, man. We are going to see,” he responded, as seen in MMA Fighting’s upload of the scrum.

Besides the primary event, which UFC 328 fight are you most looking forward to? 🤔

One other factor that means Chimaev could move up a division after his first title defense is the matchups which can be on the market for him at middleweight.

While Nassourdine Imavov has earned a title shot, the UFC went with Sean Strickland because the undefeated champion’s first challenger since it’s a much larger fight on paper.

Chimaev, who said he loves Strickland for drawing a lot attention to the fight along with his controversial comments, revealed throughout the scrum that this has led to May 9 being his biggest payday to this point.

“Yeah, I never made that much money before. That’s good,” he smiled when asked about Strickland’s trash talking.