Khamzat Chimaev has teased a move to the middleweight division following his weight miss at UFC 279. Henry Cejudo recently gave his list of potential middleweight opponents for Chimaev, including a rematch with a welterweight contender.
The most likely middleweight opponent for Khamzat Chimaev remains Paulo Costa. The No.6-ranked middleweight has been calling out Chimaev since their altercation at the UFC Performance Institute. While Costa topped Henry Cejudo’s list of potential opponents for Chimaev, he surprisingly included a rematch with Gilbert Burns.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Cejudo gave his reasoning for including Burns, stating:
“Instead of Gilbert Burns going down to 170 pounds, we bring them up to 185 pounds because they had such a fight at their fight in Jacksonville, Florida. I like that fight, I think they’ll do it again.”
Cejudo continued by adding:
“I think this time we’re going to be able to see if Khamzat could really take him down like he said he would at will and I just think this is a matchup that Gilbert wants and that Khamzat has talked about. I say you guys run it back at 185 pounds.”
Chimaev previously defeated Burns by unanimous decision at UFC 273. It is the only fight in Chimaev’s mixed martial arts career that has entered the third round, relying on the judges for a win.
Khamzat Chimaev’s middleweight move may be on hold
The speculation around Khamzat Chimaev has been that he will make a move to the middleweight division following his weight miss fiasco at UFC 279. After teasing the move, those plans appear to be placed on hold. Chimaev has called out a top welterweight contender that he has previously accused of avoiding him.
Despite missing weight by nearly eight pounds, Chimaev appears ready to continue his title pursuit at welterweight. Chimaev revealed that he wanted to face Covington prior to accepting a fight against Nate Diaz at UFC 279. The No.3-ranked welterweight told Daniel Cormier:
“Colby was like – I don’t know what he said. He’s playing poker or some s**t, you know. This guy disappeared. When I come here – before I come to talk, he was like I didn’t fight somebody. Now, I smashed the Gilbert now and everyone disappeared.”
With Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman likely to fight for the belt in a trilogy matchup, Chimaev and Covington could be on a collision course. It is likely that the winner would face the winner of the title match, incentivizing both fighters.
Watch Henry Cejudo list potential middleweight opponents for Khamzat Chimaev below: