Rumor had it that Khamzat Chimaev and middleweight champ Dricus Du Plessis would have finally come face to face with each other at UFC 317 on June 28. Alas, reports over the past few days suggest that the South African champion is injured and will not be able to headline the International Fight Week card.

We do not know exactly what injury the 185-pound king has suffered from, but it has infuriated even the new, improved, and much more polite Chimaev, who reacted with a terse “This guy biggest bull—t” on social media.

In the meantime, #6 ranked surging Fighting Nerds team member, Caio Borralho, has thrown his name in the hat to fight ‘Borz’ on the late June card for the interim middleweight title. “Interim? I know a guy. You know who to call UFC,” the Brazilian dynamo wrote on X.

And guess what? It seems the undefeated Chechnya native has accepted this offer! At least that is what many took away from a cryptic X post Chimaev posted on his handle. The X post consists of the Emirati picking up a person who looks like Borralho from the back (we can’t see his face in the picture), along with an equally mysterious caption that reads: “✈️🤫”.

Is this a hint from ‘Borz’ about his next opponent and is he deliberately keeping things ambiguous since Dana White and Co. have yet to announce the fight officially? That is certainly what it looks like. As a side note, its a bit rich to see ‘Borz’ excoriate Du Plessis for not being able to fight due to injury.

One would think his extensive experience of pulling out of a fight or refusing a title shot would make him more sympathetic to the ‘DDP’s health woes, but that clearly is not the case. Either way, the thing is even if Chimaev and Borralho are in agreement, they still need to convince the UFC to let them fight for the interim belt at UFC 317.

Will the UFC even agree to Khamzat Chimaev fighting in an interim title clash at UFC 317

The middleweight division indeed doesn’t have anyone else except Caio Borralho and one more fighter who could fight Chimaev for the interim title next. The rest of the top five—Sean Strickland, Israel Adesanya, and Robert Whittaker—are all coming off losses in their last fight and not even in the title conversation at the moment.

However, there is #1 ranked Nassourdine Imavov in the division, too, who is coming off a knockout victory over the legendary Adesanya in February. But except for Borralho and Imavov, there is really no one else who could fight Chimaev for the interim middleweight title. But the thing is, the UFC is very unlikely to make an interim title clash happen.

After all, a large part of ‘Borz’s appeal is the fact that he is undefeated and looks almost unstoppable. So giving him one of the young and hungry killers like Borralho or Imavov would risk Chimaev breaking his undefeated streak. Not to mention, even if the ethnic Chechen wins, there is a possibility he would be injured and not able to fight for the title this year.

And since Du Plessis-Chimaev is only second to Jones-Aspinall in terms of fan excitement and potential commercial success, it is unlikely Dana White and Co. would jeopardize that fight by letting Chimaev fight someone else for the interim title. But if they do, they know who to call first. What do you think about Khamzat Chimaev’s cryptic tweet?