Bad blood continues to boil between Khamzat Chimaev and former UFC middleweight champ Sean Strickland.
Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland and UFC 319 headliner Khamzat Chimaev trained together earlier in their careers at Xtreme Couture. As Chimaev prepared for a full-time move to middleweight, Strickland and Chimaev were briefly teammates and shared the mats several times.
Chimaev is days away from facing Strickland’s two-time rival, UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis in the UFC 319 main event. It will mark Chimaev’s long-awaited title shot after running through each of his first eight UFC opponents.
While Chimaev is laser-focused on putting his new ‘secret weapon’ to the test, he’s engaged in a heated feud with his former training partner.
- DDP ON CHIMAEV ‘SECRET WEAPON’: Dricus du Plessis shares cold reaction to Khamzat Chimaev’s alleged cardio improvements ahead of title fight
Khamzat Chimaev responds to Sean Strickland’s gym bully claims
Strickland went off on Chimaev during a recent interview.
“I was there when he retired from COVID. I was training with him. There’s a video of me, and I was like ‘Oh, you’re so good, you’re better than everybody’, and I’m being sarcastic,” Strickland said of Chimaev.
“You can pick high-level UFC fighters, but you go and f—– starch this 1-1 guy, but there’s guys like Edmen [Shahbazyan], high-level UFC fighters, and you’re picking the 1-1 fighter because you think he’s the same height as your opponent.
“No dude, you’re picking him because you’re a b—.”
During a recent media day press conference in Los Angeles, Chimaev responded to Strickland’s comments.
Khamzat Chimaev gave a preview of what’s to come in his title fight vs. DDP at today’s #UFC319 media workout 🐺 pic.twitter.com/WmvEET5DP8
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) August 6, 2025
“When I was there, he never said anything. When I left Las Vegas, when they stopped my [travel VISA], he started to talk,” Chimaev responded.
“When I came back, I’m in Los Angeles. Come on. If it’s something personal for you, just come. I’m here. Whenever he wants.”
If Chimaev gets the win at UFC 319, it could open the door to potential second chances for Strickland, Israel Adesanya, and other top middleweights. After Strickland defeated Adesanya for the belt at UFC 293, Chimaev was briefly touted as Strickland’s first title defense, before Du Plessis got the shot at UFC 297.
Sean Strickland sided with two-time rival ahead of UFC 319
Amid Strickland’s feud with his former teammate, he’s predicting Du Plessis to retain the title at UFC 319. Strickland based his opinion on his 10 rounds fought against Du Plessis, combined with his brief time training with Chimaev.
Strickland called stopping Chimaev’s wrestling ‘not that hard’ and gave Du Plessis a significant advantage with his striking. So far in Chimaev’s career, Kamaru Usman is the only opponent to seriously challenge Chimaev’s grappling.
Chimaev is plotting a potential return to the welterweight division after UFC 319, a surprising plan given his past weight cutting issues. He made the full-time move to middleweight following a botched cut ahead of UFC 279.