The cageside commentary team at UFC 328 was already raising questions about Khamzat Chimaev’s weight cut during the post-fight broadcast, with Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier suggesting that an aborted plan to move to light heavyweight may have significantly complicated his preparation for the Strickland title defense.
Chimaev appeared visibly uncomfortable at Friday’s official weigh-ins before coming in at the 185-pound limit, and his conditioning deteriorated after a dominant opening round against Strickland, as he largely abandoned his wrestling and struggled to maintain the same intensity across five rounds. Rogan connected those dots during the broadcast.
“The fact that he did try to bulk up plus thinking that he was going to fight Jiri Prochazka for 205. Good question, because it could have been a factor.”
Cormier questioned whether the middleweight division is even the right home for Chimaev going forward.
“Does Khamzat want to fight at 185? They said he already has his eyes on 205. I don’t know.”
The theory carries weight given Chimaev’s history with weight management. He infamously missed the 170-pound limit by 7.5 pounds ahead of UFC 279 in September 2022, an incident that forced a reshuffling of the entire card. In this instance, the suggestion is that Chimaev had been building his frame in anticipation of competing at 205 pounds, possibly for a fight with Prochazka, before the Strickland title defense was booked and he was required to shed significant mass in a compressed timeframe.
You can see the post-fight reaction on X here.
Dana White confirmed at the post-fight press conference that Chimaev approached him to say he wants to move to light heavyweight. Chimaev posted on X, with “see you soon again” and then “let me know when you are ready,” suggesting a rematch at middleweight has not been fully ruled out.