While the entire fighting community was anticipating Khamzat Chimaev to fight Robert Whittaker last month, the Chechen Wolf fell violently ill and disappointed the world by pulling out of the fight. However, ‘Borz’ wasn’t completely out. On an appearance on RedCornerMMA, on 16th July, the Swedish fighter expressed his desire to fight for the championship belt. His words didn’t quite sit well with many in the realm of combat sports, and Daniel Cormier was one of them.

On the other hand, Sean Strickland, the former middleweight champion, feels he is being looked over. He sits on the #1 contender’s spot for a reason, don’t you think? Yep! DC thought so, too. Let’s see what the former UFC HW champ had to say about Chimaev’s challenge for the middleweight champion.

Daniel Cormier was not happy with Khamzat Chimaev wanting a title shot in October

On the 18th of July, Cormier took to his talk show, ‘Daniel Cormier TV’ and revealed his opinion on Chimaev’s callout of Strickland. Needless to say, the UFC commentator, like many others, did not appreciate Chimaev pulling out of his fight with Whittaker, back at UFC Saudi Arabia. It was indeed a tough time for the UFC officials to bring in a replacement with just a few days’ notice. DC sided with the fight fans and opined that the world wanted to see the Chechen Wolf fight against ‘The Reaper’. He said, “Khamzat Chimaev, he said he wants to come back in October, but now he’s saying he wants to fight for the belt. Him asking for a title fight in October is actually crazy. What happened to the Robert Whittaker fight? You know what, or Sean Strickland?”

Cormier didn’t leave out Strickland from the talks. He was surprisingly hyped up with the former champ’s skills as a middleweight fighter. He simply didn’t like how ‘Tarzan’ was left out of the discussions when he was apparently doing everything he was supposed to do. What was he doing? Well, winning fights and becoming the number one contender in the middleweight division could be taken for starters. DC claimed that Strickland did not deserve such treatment as he had shown that he was a worthy fighter on numerous occasions. 

Coming back to Chimaev, Cormier was, in fact, happy about his comeback. However, it was not the title shot that he wanted ‘Borz’ to go for right away. DC opined, “While I love that Khamzat seems to be ready to come back, I believe that he should probably fight Robert Whittaker. Right? That’s what we were supposed to get anyways.”

In case you are wondering why Chimaev asked Dana White for a title shot, we got that covered too. Let’s get right into it!

Why did ‘Borz’ believe he was ready for a title shot?

‘Borz’, in his interview with the RedCornerMMA, revealed that he was planning to make a comeback. If you’ve guessed it already, congratulations! He was indeed talking about UFC 308, the event when the MMA promotion will make its annual run in Abu Dhabi. But it wasn’t a regular fight that he wanted. Chimaev opted for the shot at the middleweight title. 

The Chechen Wolf said, “I’d like to fight for the title. I have 7 wins in 7 fights in the UFC. There’s not a single fighter who won 7 in a row and didn’t get a title shot. I think after this fight they have to give me a chance. I want to fight for a belt.” With his record, it does sound like he’s ready to fight for the title. However, we also need to take a look at his withdrawals. While he claims that the negotiations are already in progress, he might just have created hard feelings with White. 

Do you agree with DC’s verdict? Or do you think Chimaev should be granted a title shot already? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.