Sean Strickland shares untold gym story about Khamzat Chimaev, sends cold "fight to death" warning for potential title fight
UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland recently shared a story about Khamzat Chimaev.
Chimaev was back in action last night at UFC 294 to take on former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. 'Borz' was initially supposed to go up against Paulo Costa, but the Brazilian had to pull out of the fight because of an injury.
As a result, Kamaru Usman stepped in on short notice for a middleweight bout against Chimaev with Dana White making it known that the winner of the fight will be next in line for a title shot. On the night, Chimaev walked into the fight as a favorite and was able to get the better of Usman, winning the bout via a majority decision.
Talking about Khamzat Chimaev, who will be most likely his next opponent, Sean Strickland shared a gym story about 'Borz' and sent out a warning as well:
"One day I made phone with Chechen and he misunderstood what I said. It was more of like a compliment to the fighter and he sent me message talking sh*t and I said, 'Chimaev, you misunderstood but I will see you tomorrow at 3 o'clock, gloves or no gloves, turn up.' And guess what? No show, no answer, we talked it out."
Strickland added:
"Me and him are fu*king different. Chimaev can be right here, I will fight that man to death right here."
Khamzat Chimaev claims to be levels above Sean Strickland
Ahead of his UFC 294 bout against Kamaru Usman, Khamzat Chimaev spoke about potentially fighting Sean Strickland. Interestingly, Chimaev seemed to downplay Strickland's fighting abilities and claimed to be "levels above" him.
It is worth noting that Khamzat Chimaev trained with Sean Strickland ahead of the American's championship bout with Israel Adesanya. The sparring sessions between the two seemed to have convinced Chimaev that he could easily beat him. 'Borz' said:
"We've done our work in the gym together and if they offer him to me, if I can fight him for the belt, that's what I'll do. I think that if you compare us on a skill-level wise, I'm levels above him. I'm in a whole different stratosphere from him. So he's not a threat to me."