What is the rivalry between Khamzat Chimaev and Shavkat Rakhmonov? 'Borz' seemingly settles rivalry
Following his debut in the summer of 2020, Khamzat Chimaev has quickly become one of the hottest fighters in the UFC. ‘Borz’ is currently 6-0 in the octagon, most recently submitting Kevin Holland last September.
When discussing the idea of Khamzat Chimaev’s next fight, one name who has come up on more than one occasion is Shavkat Rakhmonov. ‘The Nomad’ is also unbeaten in the UFC with a record of 5-0, and he was impressive in his most recent submission victory over Geoff Neal in March.
The idea of a burgeoning rivalry between the Kazakh native and ‘Borz’ has been discussed by numerous sources, with one of the UFC’s own Twitter pages posting about it last year.
Shavkat or Khamzat 
🇰🇿 Shavkat or Khamzat 🇸🇪
Choose your fighter!
Two elite, unbeaten, welterweight prospects. Who are you backing to have the better UFC career? https://t.co/1TsrizwyiA
Initially, both men were relatively quiet about the potential of a clash between them. That changed recently when Rakhmonov took to social media to seemingly hit out at Chimaev’s ‘Borz’ nickname, which roughly translates to “wolf.”
Showing a picture of himself sitting on a chair covered in wolf pelts, ‘The Nomad’ wrote, “When someone calls himself a wolf...wolves are below us!” In response, Chimaev noted, “To be called a wolf is an honor than to be a jackal in life.”
However, both of these aggressively-toned posts have since been deleted, and now, it appears that ‘Borz’ wants to quash any kind of feud before it properly begins.
Last night saw Chimaev make a fascinating Instagram post. While he didn’t mention Rakhmonov by name, he did call for peace between his native Chechen fans and those from Kazakhstan:
“Peace be upon you. Chechens and Kazakhs have always been brother. I wish you all health happiness love prosperity, may the almighty this month of Ramadan bring you lots of barakat. In every nation there are people who are not far minded, we wish them well too. May the almighty guide them to the path where they will unite our peoples and not to divide them. InshaAllah! I will try to come to Kazakhstan soon and please my brothers.”
The likelihood is that both men have realized that if Khamzat Chimaev is moving up to 185lbs as he apparently intends to, there’s no point in pursuing a rivalry – so peace may be the better idea for now, at least.
Who is likely to be Khamzat Chimaev’s next fight?
Although Khamzat Chimaev took to Twitter to call out new UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya this weekend, it feels unlikely that he’ll face ‘The Last Stylebender’ in his next trip to the octagon.
Congratulations @stylebender see you soon 🫡
Instead, current reports suggest that ‘Borz’ could have a date with former middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa in the future. The suggestion is that the two stars could meet at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi this October.
Naturally, there’s a long way to go before this fight is finalized, though. While Costa has signed a new deal with the UFC, judging by Chimaev’s most recent tweet, it might take some effort for him to tie ‘Borrachinha’ down to an official fight.
🏼♂️
🤦🏻♂️Run coward run @BorrachinhaMMA 🏃🏼♂️😂🤦🏻♂️