Chimaev Breaks Up Heated Brawl

This incident is the latest in a series of outside-the-cage confrontations for Chimaev since capturing the 185-pound title. In November 2025, Chimaev was involved in a backstage scuffle at UFC Qatar, where he shoved Ian Machado Garry.

As for his UFC career, Chimaev claimed his title at UFC 319 last August with a dominant performance against Dricus du Plessis. Chimaev is currently preparing for his first title defense. He is widely expected to face #2 ranked Nassourdine Imavov, who is currently on a five-fight winning streak. However, Chimaev has also teased a move to light heavyweight, openly targeting a future fight with Alex Pereira once his business at middleweight is settled. Glover Teixeira does not see that fight ending well for Chimaev, while Reinier de Ridder sees Chimaev being more than competitive.

The Future

“He just became middleweight champion and didn’t even defend it. ‘Poatan’ is on a different level. It’s complicated for me to say, but Poatan’s jab is harder than many straight punches. He has a snap that hurts. And it’s very difficult to take him down against the cage, and if you manage to, his ground defense is excellent. ‘Poatan would knock Chimaev out, at most, by the third round,” Teixeira said

“That’s another one. We kind of dismissed that right away. ‘He’s too small for light heavyweight, and he’s gonna get knocked out right away,’ I don’t think so. I think he would do very well at light heavyweight; his wrestling is in a division that is very low on great wrestling. He would do very well there as well,” de Ridder stated