Khamzat Chimaev Says He Will Take a Break Without a 2026 Fight
Khamzat Chimaev says he will step away from competition if the UFC does not book him before the year ends. The former middleweight champion made the comments in a new interview with Adam Zubayraev, framing October and December as the only windows he is still chasing.
Chimaev (15-1) has not fought since UFC 328 on May 9 in Newark, where Sean Strickland took the 185-pound title by split decision. That night ended Chimaev’s unbeaten run and cut short a title reign that began with a unanimous-decision win over Dricus du Plessis at UFC 319 in August 2025.
He remains the No. 1 ranked middleweight and sits No. 12 in the men’s pound-for-pound list after the Sept. 8 rankings update. Strickland is scheduled toward a title defense against Nassourdine Imavov later this year, leaving Chimaev without an official opponent more than four months after the loss.
Asked what he would tell supporters who have followed him through that stretch, Chimaev first turned the conversation toward them. “Huge thanks to everyone who supports me and follows me,” he said.
He then made the booking picture plain. “As for the fight, I’m trying to get one. I was trying to get one in October, and now I’m trying for December.”
That shift matters because September is already halfway gone. An October return would require a fight to be made almost immediately, which is why the December target now carries more weight than the original plan.
Chimaev has said in recent weeks that he spoke with UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell about coming back this fall. He has also said Campbell told him Caio Borralho and du Plessis are injured, thinning the list of ranked names available on short notice.
A rematch with Strickland or a bout with Imavov would only open if that title fight does not happen. Neither option is booked for Chimaev, and he did not name a specific opponent in the Zubayraev interview.
The larger issue, as he described it, is what happens if the calendar stays empty. “If nothing happens in October or December, I think I’ll take a little break,” Chimaev said.
He tied that break to work he says he has kept delaying. “I have a lot of injuries. I need to get them treated.”
Chimaev has long dealt with illness and recovery issues that have slowed camps in previous years. This time he went further than usual about why another camp without a date would push him toward the table instead of the cage.
“I’ve been putting off my surgeries, putting them off, putting them off. And I go into every fight with some kind of problem,” he said. That admission helps explain why a year-end deadline is more than promotional leverage.
He still prefers not to dwell on it. “I don’t really like talking about my problems or injuries.”
Even so, he said the pattern is already public. “People already know that I get sick often. That’s just how it is with me.”
Chimaev then pointed to a medical detail he has discussed before. “I don’t have half of my thyroid gland.”
He followed that with a count of the procedures behind the current pause talk. “I’ve had seven times under anesthesia, six surgeries, and a lot of injuries.”
When the interviewer pressed on whether he remains vulnerable to illness, Chimaev did not treat the condition as something he can simply train through. “And I still do,” he said of those problems.
He closed the thought in faith rather than matchmaking. “The Almighty has ordained this for me. I still have to live my life.”
That last line is the clearest signal that a missed 2026 date would not keep him in a holding pattern just to stay visible. Chimaev has stayed active outside the UFC this year in Real American Freestyle, but those appearances do not replace a middleweight bout that would keep him in title range.
The division is moving without him. Strickland holds the belt, Imavov is the expected next challenger, and du Plessis has already returned to the win column since losing the title at UFC 319.
If Chimaev fights in December, he would still sit at the top of the rankings and remain the most obvious name for a future title fight. If he does not, the surgeries he says he has postponed would likely take him off the 2026 calendar entirely and reopen the contender picture behind Strickland.
The next move belongs to the UFC. Chimaev has given the promotion two months on the clock and said he will use a break to treat the injuries he has been carrying into fights if that clock runs out.