UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev already has his sights set on another division.
Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) captured the middleweight title by dominating Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319 this past August. He plans on making his first title defense after Ramadan but appears to have no intention of reigning over the division for long.
Advertisement
“I want for sure one more fight, and then I’m going to go one more weight class up,” Chimaev told ESPN MMA. “One more fight, and I move up next fight.”
Instead, Chimaev continues to campaign for a shot at UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira but insists both “Poatan” and the promotion want no part of it.
“That’s a good fight for him (Jon Jones); that’s a good fight for me,” Chimaev said of Pereira. “Everyone knows that, the UFC knows that, but the UFC doesn’t want to give this guy to me. The guy said, ‘Oh, I come to you in jiu-jitsu, wrestling, grappling,’ I don’t know what. Grappling, jiu-jitsu is not our job. We’re UFC fighters
“He said he can fight with Du Plessis. He accepted the fight, but now he says Khamzat is not a good fight. He says that he’s more famous than me, and that’s why I use his name. Bro, if I just say hi on my Instagram story, I make more views than his fights. So, I don’t think this guy is more famous than me.”
Advertisement
Despite the back-and-forth barbs between Chimaev and Team Pereira, he’s not confident that it will lead to something.
“I don’t think he wants that fight,” Chimaev said. “He knows about it, the UFC knows about it, so I can’t say the things that the UFC says to me. It’s going to be disrespectful to Alex because everyone knows this guy is not my level. He’s a good striker, one of the best strikers. I give the respect to him. He has knockout power and everything, but ask whoever, 99 percent in the world who’s watching the UFC, they’re going to tell you who’s going to win that fight.
“He knows it, and that’s why he’s running away. Why accept the fight against Du Plessis and not accept the fight against me? I beat Du Plessis. I destroyed the guy five rounds, but he says I’m not famous? Was Du Plessis more famous than me? Du Plessis has like 100 views on his Instagram; I have like 500 million views after the fight.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC champ Khamzat Chimaev says his middleweight days are numbered
