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Khamzat Chimaev has not fought since UFC 279 despite expressing his desire to enter the octagon. The No.3-ranked welterweight recently gave some insight into why he has not fought since.
Speaking on the third episode of his Dubai Vlog on YouTube, Chimaev stated:
"Everyone wants to call out me now. When I call out them before, when I was before famous, nobody wanted to fight me at that time. Nobody call out me, but still they call out me and when it comes to the fight, sign the contract, in the end they had - somebody has injury, somebody has some problems. I don't know what to find a way to come out from there."
Chimaev continued:
"Of course, I want to fight for the title. They say after all the fight, like they said after Gilbert Burns, maybe you fight for the title. I said, okay, maybe. I didn't trust that time. So then we try to fight Kevin Holland. After that, they say, maybe go for the title. I don't know. This didn't happen now, and the guys know, it's easy fight for me, and they don't want to give me the chance to smash that guy."
Chimaev added that he was told he would fight in London, Las Vegas, Brazil, and Australia, however, nothing has materialized. It is also unclear if his next bout will take place at welterweight or middleweight.
Watch Khamzat Chimaev discuss his next fight below (starting at the 5:48 mark):
Khamzat Chimaev previously accused opponents of avoiding him
Khamzat Chimaev has consistently called out some of the toughest fighters since joining the UFC. While many felt that he didn't deserve some of the fights he targeted, his UFC 273 victory over Gilbert Burns made Chimaev much more deserving of high-ranked opponents. The No.3-ranked welterweight recently shared that opponents are still avoiding him despite his ranking:
"Nobody wants to fight. F**k these boys. They give me different opponents, nobody wants to fight... Gonna fight somebody, I don't know who, they change the opponents all day, all the time. Every week I have new opponents, but nobody wants to fight. The guys speak a lot of trash talk, a lot of s**t about me and 'I want to fight you.' When it comes to the fight and signing the contract, everyone runs away."
Chimaev has also angled for a middleweight title opportunity against Alex Pereira. However, that appears unlikely as he is not ranked in the division and isn't a current champion, either.
Watch Khamzat Chimaev discuss potential opponents avoiding him below (starting at the 2:12 mark):
