Arthur Chimaev, Khamzat's brother, provided extensive details about the disastrous weight cut in an interview. He revealed that when 1.2 kg remained to be lost, Khamzat's body shut down and they had to pause for an hour due to health concerns before ultimately completing the cut. Khamzat had originally prepared for a 93 kg bout with Jiri Prochazka under contract, but UFC contacted him directly requesting he fight Sean Strickland at 84 kg instead, requiring a cut from 105 kg. Arthur confirmed Khamzat nearly lost consciousness due to oxygen deprivation during the weight cut. Two weeks before the fight, Khamzat weighed 97 kg, but had bulked up to 105 kg by March 13th. After weigh-ins, Khamzat only managed to rehydrate 5-6 kg before the fight, and his body had not recovered by the second round. The team has requested a rematch with Strickland for October in Abu Dhabi.
Arthur Chimaev has spoken at length about the harrowing weight cut his brother Khamzat endured ahead of the middleweight title fight against Sean Strickland, revealing a series of alarming details that paint a picture of a body pushed well beyond its limits.
According to Arthur, the situation originated when the UFC approached Khamzat directly and asked him to move from a previously contracted 93-kilogram bout with Jiri Prochazka to an 84-kilogram middleweight title fight against Strickland. That switch meant cutting from a walk-around weight that had ballooned to 105 kilograms by March 13th, just weeks before fight night. Two weeks out, Khamzat had already sat at 97 kilograms, meaning significant mass had been added in a short window before the hard work of stripping it all back began.
Arthur described the final stages of the cut as a medical crisis in slow motion. When roughly 1.2 kilograms still needed to come off, Khamzat's body effectively shut down. The team was forced to pause the process for a full hour over health concerns, and Arthur confirmed his brother came close to losing consciousness due to oxygen deprivation before the cut was eventually completed.
The damage did not end at the scale. After the weigh-ins, Khamzat was only able to rehydrate five to six kilograms before the bout, a fraction of what fighters typically recover, and Arthur said the body had not recovered by the time the second round arrived.
Khamzat, ranked first in the middleweight division at 32 years old and holding a 15-1 record, carries a striking accuracy of 60 percent and an elite takedown rate of 5.29 per fifteen minutes. Strickland, the reigning middleweight champion at 35, brings a relentless output of 6.04 significant strikes per minute with a 31-7 record.
Why it matters
- The account raises serious questions about how late-notice division changes are managed at the organizational level
- Khamzat's compromised physical state heading into the second round reframes how the fight and its outcome should be evaluated
- Arthur confirmed the team has formally requested a rematch with Strickland, targeting an October date in Abu Dhabi
