UFC phenom Khamzat Chimaev has hinted at a possible fight at UFC 300 on April 13.
In a post to his Instagram story on January 17, Chimaev alluded to a potential appearance at UFC 300:
"Borz" posted a close-up image of his face, with the number "300" jumbled around his leering expression. Chimaev didn't reveal any more details.
In terms of potential opponents for UFC 300, several options make sense. From a rankings perspective, #9 Chimaev doesn't have many immediate options. Every middleweight fighter above #4 is fully booked, leaving Chimaev's options in the top five. Two fighters in the top five aren't scheduled for a fight: Jared Cannonier and Israel Adesanya.
The biggest fight to make at UFC 300 for Chimaev would be against "The Last Stylebender", and it would continue with the theme of Chimaev battling Nigerian former champions.
"Borz" last appeared at UFC 295, where he defeated a late-notice Kamaru Usman in a contentious majority decision. Two judges scored the bout for Chimaev, and one scored a draw. The Chechen fighter did enough on two scorecards to steal a 10-8 round one, which was unprecedented against Usman. However, Chimaev was visibly gassed in rounds two and three, which almost cost him the fight.
Chimaev cited a hand injury as the reason for his slowing down, but many fans and pundits are pointing to his fight with Gilbert Burns as further evidence for a questionable gas tank. If Chimaev is booked against a true middleweight at UFC 300, he had better be prepared to go the distance.
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