Khamzat Chimaev was one of the most feared fighters in the UFC and that was backed by his pound-for-pound ranking.
This past Saturday night, Khamzat Chimaev was handed his first ever loss when he lost his middleweight title in the UFC 328 main event to Sean Strickland.
Immediately after the fight ‘Borz’ told Dana White that he is done with fighting at middleweight and that he would like to move up to 205lbs next.
Despite that, soon after, he performed a U-turn, teasing that he would like an immediate rematch with Strickland, asking the new champion to let him know when he is ready.
How disappointing was Khamzat Chimaev’s reign as UFC middleweight champion? 😳
Khamzat Chimaev drops 7 places in pound-for-pound rankings
After a dominant first round, Chimaev dramatically fatigued soon after which allowed Strickland into the fight, leveling up the score going into the final round which was razor close.
Chimaev’s teammate and cornerman for the fight, Arman Tsarukyan, claimed that they got ‘submitted by the judges’, questioning the final scorecards.
And although before the fight ‘Borz’ was regarded as one of the most feared fighters in the sport, following his ‘aura loss’ on Saturday night, he has plummeted down the pound-for-pound rankings.
Prior to the fight, the Chechen occupied rank 3 in the pound-for-pound rankings, but after his loss in Newark, Chimaev has been sent down 7 spots to rank 10.
Having gone into his title fight unranked in the pound-for-pound rankings, Strickland has soared back into the rankings, taking rank 7 after becoming just the second two-time middleweight champion ever.
Welterweight has a new contender in the top 10 after UFC 328
That wasn’t the only significant movement in the rankings after the night of action at the Prudential Center.
After scoring an extremely impressive second round submission win over Joel Alvarez and registering back-to-back wins in the premier promotion, Yaroslav Amosov has cracked the top 10 of the welterweight rankings.
Prior to his fight on the weekend, the former Bellator champion was given extremely high praise from Dustin Poirier, who claimed he is the closest thing to Khabib Nurmagomedov in the sport.
And now, the 32-year-old is likely just one or two more wins away from fighting for the 170lb title, which is currently held by Islam Makhachev.
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