Khamzat Chimaev

Khamzat Chimaev fights at middleweight in the UFC. He is a former middleweight champion.

The UFC lists him at No. 1 middleweight. Sean Strickland beat him by split decision at 5:00 of the fifth round at UFC 328 on May 9, 2026, and Chimaev lost the middleweight title. He won a five-round unanimous decision over Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319 on August 16, 2025, and won that title.

Russia is his birthplace. He moved to Sweden, kept wrestling, and was a Swedish national champion in freestyle wrestling. He won a gift card at a hotel in Stockholm, tried MMA at Allstars that weekend, went back to Kalmar, quit a job at a poultry factory, and moved to Stockholm, where he did security work.

Chimaev trains at TKMMA Fit and Akhmat MMA, turned pro in 2018, and holds a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and he went 4-0 as an amateur with all finishes. The nickname Borz means wolf in Chechen.

The UFC lists 15-1-0, with six knockouts, six submissions, and nine first-round finishes. The extra six wins are not in the UFC history. The submissions are a heel hook, two D'Arce chokes, two rear-naked chokes, and a face crank. The fighter facts list a middleweight record of 7-1, with 5-1 in the UFC, and a welterweight record of 5-0, with 3-0 in the UFC, and five of the UFC finishes came in the first round. Chimaev measures a 40-inch (102 cm) leg reach.