Khamzat Chimaev has fired back at UFC boss Dana White's criticism by insisting that he is ready to fight.
Chimaev, 29, hasn't stepped foot in the octagon since tapping out Kevin Holland in just over two minutes at UFC 279 last September. 'Borz' missed weight for his scheduled main event fight against Nate Diaz by 7.5lb and was booked to fight Holland instead, with White confirming the Chechen's next fight will take place at middleweight after the fiasco.
Whilst discussing Chimaev's return before UFC 288 this past weekend, White told TSN that personal issues are delaying his comeback. “That’s on him. He’s got stuff going on in his personal life. That’s not because we’re not getting him a fight," White said.
"Obviously you know how it goes here. I talk about this all the time, we have to get guys three fights a year. If we don’t get guys three fights a year, we have to pay them. The only way that wouldn’t happen is if they have personal stuff going on."
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Chimaev has now responded to White's comments in a tweet that read: “I have no problems with fights, if they gave me a fight, I would have fought a long time ago, I did so many training camps and not one fight, the problem is definitely not with me, prepared in Dubai then to Thailand, why do I train so much if there is no fight, I don’t understand."
After being signed to the UFC in 2020, Chimaev broke the record for the fastest consecutive wins in promotional history by tapping out John Philips and choking out Rhys McKee in the space of 10 days. 'Borz' competed in his lone UFC middleweight fight against Gerald Meerschaert later that year, winning by knockout in just 17 seconds.
Chimaev has been linked to a middleweight fight against former title challenger at UFC 294 Paulo Costa in October, but the bout is yet to be made official. The pair had a run-in at the UFC's Performance Institute in Las Vegas before Chimaev's last fight and Costa is a fan of the potential matchup.
“I’m bothering the UFC to schedule a fight before June,” Costa said on The MMA Hour. “I think because they have some agreement with the Dubai government, so they need to push big fights for there. I like the Chimaev fight. I think it’s a good match-up.
"I think there's a lot of hype behind this fight; the people want to see that fight. The people are always asking me about that fight.”
