One thing the UFC welterweight star Khamzat Chimaev has been doing since his debut in the promotion is calling out top-tier fighters for a fight. He made his UFC debut in 2020, and since then he has remained undefeated and cemented his position among the top 5 of the welterweight division.
However, Chimaev is yet to fight for the UFC title for which he has been campaigning for a long time now. But it seems like UFC wants him to compete in one more fight, before giving him a title shot.
Khamzat Chimaev wants to fight Alex Pereira
The Russian-born Swedish fighter did not just call out fighters from the welterweight division, but other weight classes as well. He has several times stated he can defeat elite middleweight fighters.
In particular, Chimaev has targeted former champion Israel Adesanya. The Swede has called Izzy ‘easy money’ after several of his fights on Twitter. Now, since ‘The Last Stylebender’ lost his title to Alex Pereira at UFC 281, Chimaev wants to fight the Brazilian.
Recently, ‘The Lone Wolf’ took to his official Twitter account and stated that he has agreed to fight Pereira on 10th December in Brazil at UFC 282. But was waiting for the Brazilian’s reply.
@AlexPereiraUFC 10 December let’s go, i already agreed. Now it’s your turn ⚔️
— Khamzat Chimaev (@KChimaev) November 20, 2022
“@AlexPereiraUFC 10 December let’s go, I already agreed. Now it’s your turn,” Chimaev wrote. However, there has been no such announcement from the UFC. And a light heavyweight title fight between Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira is already set to headline UFC 282.
Chimaev’s fight talks with Colby Covington and Gilbert Burns
Previously, the Swede was in talks for a fight with former interim welterweight champion Colby Covington. Even the UFC president Dana White was interested in this match-up. However, we are yet to hear about that bout.
https://twitter.com/GilbertDurinho/status/1594113201297317891?s=20&t=neEABz9DwF3ENvEplsK8Eg
Amidst the talks, Chimaev recently called out his former opponent Gilbert Burns for a rematch. ‘Borz’ already has one win over the Brazilian, who surely was his toughest test in the UFC. With all these callouts, Chimaev seems desperate for a title fight.
What are your thoughts on Chimaev’s random call-outs?