Khamzat Chimaev was born in the Russian province of Chechnya but emigrated to Sweden with his family when he was a young boy. Chimaev has represented his adopted country Sweden so far. However, there were reports that he would be representing and train in the UAE going forward.

Recently, Chimaev returned to Sweden to attend FCR 19, the promotion where he fought in the early days of his MMA career. During an interview there, the Chechen expressed his happiness at being back in the country.

Khamzat Chimaev preparing in Dubai for a summer booking

Khamzat Chimaev was the official no. 1 title contender for the middleweight title at the end of last year. After his UFC 294 victory over Kamaru Usman in October 2023, he was offered a title bout against then-champion Sean Strickland at UFC 297. However, the Chechen had to turn it down as he was nursing a broken hand.

Of course, Dricus Du Plessis (who had previously turned down a title bout at UFC 293 for similar reasons) replaced ‘Borz’ and defeated Strickland to become the UFC’s first South African champion. And Chimaev spoke about being back in Sweden and returning to the UFC in a recent interview even as his status remains uncertain since two former champions are already in line for a title rematch.

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“Always nice back to home [sic] and always will be my home. My start here [sic] so always will be back and forward [with] Dubai. I live there but so want to come here, always train and do the same thing I did before,” he said.

Chimaev revealed that he was hard at work in Dubai, and was training with fighters from around the world, including a fair number of Russian fighters. “There are a lot of different sparring Partners [in Dubai]. They come and going, you know, from England, from around the world… everyone wants to be there, so a lot of Russian fighters, as well. So, good sparring,” ‘Borz’ added. He made several other notable revelations in the interview, including confirming Ariel Helwani’s initial reporting about the main event of UFC 300.

Chimaev offered UFC 300

On being asked when fans may see him back in the octagon, Khamzat Chimaev said that he was hoping to fight this summer, sometime after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, during which Chimaev will fast, not consuming any food or water before sundown.

‘Borz’ stated that he wanted to fight at the UFC’s inaugural card in Saudi Arabia but felt the promotion would not be interested in having him fight on the Fight Night card. Chimaev also revealed that he was offered a possible fight against welterweight champion Leon Edwards at the top of UFC 300 but turned it down.

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As for his next opponent, it is uncertain whether he is still next in line to fight for the middleweight title, or whether he will have to fight another top 180-pound contender (perhaps Sean Strickland or maybe even Israel Adesanya) to once again become the official no. 1 title contender. Whatever the case may be, the Chechen looks one step (maybe two) away from fighting for the title.

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