The UFC’s middleweight division now has a third champion in four months. Dricus Du Plessis secured a split decision victory against Sean Strickland to achieve a lifelong dream. Now that he is the champion, the ultimate question beckons, who is next? At the moment, Israel Adesanya and Khamzat Chimaev are front runners. However, fellow middleweight Bo Nickal does not feel that Chimaev is deserving of a title shot. Nickal recently sat down with a few friends for a podcast posted on his YouTube channel.
They discussed a number of topics, including what is next for the current champion. When asked who he thought would be next, Nickal said,
“I would guess they would do Adesanya. Dude they are going to give Khamzat the title shot for sure at some point. I don’t think that he is going to have to fight again till he gets the title shot. Do I think he deserves that? No. He has not fought a single 85-er. He has fought less 85-ers than me and my guys are not even on the roster anymore. My opponents are not even on the roster anymore.”
Similar to Chimaev, Nickal also entered the UFC with a lot of hype surrounding him. So far, both men have delivered on all the hype they had garnered. ‘Borz’ started off his career at welterweight, where he secured a few wins and moved up the ranks.
However, after frequently missing weight, Chimaev, along with the UFC, decided to move up in weight permanently. Since becoming a middleweight permanently, he has only fought once, securing a win against Kamaru Usman at UFC 294. While that might not merit a title shot for most fighters, Chimaev is a different case.
Khamzat Chimaev to be beaten to a title shot by Israel Adesanya?
Following his win over Kamaru Usman, ‘Borz’ was promised a title shot in his next outing. Since then, Dana White has changed his stance on the issue. White now wants to book a fight between Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya. This has not sat well with Chimaev, who recently bashed Dana White for making promises he can not keep.
It is also worth keeping in mind that Chimaev can not enter the US at the moment, given his citizenship and his ties to Ramzan Kadyrov. In all likelihood, Adesanya will get the next title shot against Du Plessis and the winner will then face Khamzat Chimaev later in the year, when the UFC returns to Abu Dhabi.
