Khamzat Chimaev recently issued a $200k challenge to survive his sparring days ahead of his clash against Sean Strickland at the UFC Middleweight Championship. He also posted a meme on social media, demeaning his upcoming opponent and creating more anticipation around their rivalry.
Chimaev was last seen in action on the mat during the 2025 UFC Middleweight Championship, which took place in August. In this event, he went against Dricus du Plessis in UFC 319 on August 16 in Chicago. Delivering a notable performance, he won the showdown by unanimous decision (50-44, 50-44, 50-44), claiming the UFC Middleweight Champion title.
He dominated the clash for 21:40 of the 25-minute clash, securing 12 takedowns out of 17 attempts. After this stellar win, he is once again gearing up to defend his title at the UFC championship, where he will be facing the former champion, Sean Strickland. They will lock horns in the main event of UFC 328, which is slated for May 9, 2026, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
This is one of the most anticipated matches, and the fans are eagerly waiting to witness their rivalry on the mat. Days before this showdown, Chimaev has offered a $200k challenge to any Olympic-level wrestler or training partner who could survive a sparring session with him. Revealing that he is facing troubles finding a sparring partner, he wrote on X:
“Poor wrestlers started throwing challenges my way, I’m having trouble finding sparring partners, waiting for any Olympic champion to step up for sparring—if he survives, I’ll give him 200 thousand dollars,” wrote Khamzat Chimaev.
In addition to this, the middleweight champion also shared a poster of his opponent, Strickland, dressed as a sheep and portrayed himself as a wolf, announcing their clash at UFC 328.
How did Sean Strickland respond to Khamzat Chimaev’s street fight comment?
Khamzat Chimaev recently sat for a conversation with MMA Fighting, where he gave an interview in Russian, opening up about his rivalry with Sean Strickland. He revealed that he has no plans of killing his opponent, stating it as ‘Haram,’ and also mentioned that sport wouldn’t allow him to do so. However, he added that anything could happen on the streets, calling it ‘different.’
“He’s got no team, just his coach. I don’t want to kill a human being, it’s Haram. No. why? Anyway, they won’t let me do it, but in the streets.. if he dies, he dies, but inside the cage it’s only sport,” said Khamzat Chimaev.
Shortly after this controversial statement, Strickland shared his response by posting a video on X, where he was standing in front of a wall of rifles. Accusing the middleweight champion of ignoring a street fight after issuing a threat, he said:
“I’m like the last dude in America you should threaten. But I guess if you don’t show up, you don’t show up. I generally don’t post my location or my whereabouts. I don’t really drop pins where I’m at, I just don’t like to. But I was on Instagram, and some stupid shit popped up in my feed about Chimaev saying you try to fight me, you’ll kill me in the streets. Dude, I was, like, 10 minutes from your gym. I was dropping tags and locations all day on my Instagram. Your homies that train with you follow me; they were seeing my story. You had to know where I was at.”
He added:
“Ten minutes from your gym, bro, I was probably right down the street with you. Part of me thought you’d show up, but as we all know with Costa, when he pulled your card, ‘Hold me back, hold me back.’ I’m like the last dude in America you should threaten, but I guess if you don’t show up, you don’t show up.”
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