Khamzat Chimaev’s coach believes Sean Strickland or Anthony Hernandez could be next for him

Khamzat Chimaev’s coach thinks that the UFC are waiting until this weekend to decide his first challenger.

UFC Houston sees the promotion return from a weekend off, with two top middleweights set to headline the card this Saturday night.

Some have questioned whether Sean Strickland’s career is on the decline ahead of his return following over a year of inactivity.

However, Strickland sees himself as the only one who can beat Chimaev to end his undefeated streak and claim the 185 pound title.

The champion’s coach thinks that the winner of the main event at the Toyota Center could earn themselves a title shot despite what the plan appeared to be.

Khamzat Chimaev’s coach believes that the UFC will decide his first challenger after this weekend

Khamzat Chimaev doesn’t plan on sticking around at middleweight for too long, meaning that not every challenger who wants to face him will get their opportunity.

It looked like that would be granted to Nassourdine Imavov, whom Chimaev named as his next opponent following the Frenchman’s impressive winning streak.

That being said, Imavov’s win over Caio Borralho wasn’t necessarily the kind of result that is going to force the UFC’s hand.

A clash between Chimaev and Sean Strickland would be a bigger fight if the former champion is able to return to the win column this weekend.

While this may be Anthony Hernandez’s biggest bout to date, his style also makes him a compelling challenger for the champion if he can get past Strickland.

Chimaev’s coach, Alan Nascimento, recently told MMA Fighting that nothing has been confirmed for the titleholder’s return, and he believes that this has been done on purpose by the UFC.

“Nothing is set,” he said. “I think the UFC waiting for the fight between ‘Fluffy’ and Strickland to see what would sell more, the winner of that fight or Imavov, who is the current contender.”

Khamzat Chimaev’s coach says he’d be back and ready to fight at the White House event

During his interview with MMA Fighting, Khamzat Chimaev’s head coach explains why it would make sense for them to target the White House event in June for the champion’s return.

“Ramadan starts [this] week and ends in mid-March, so we roughly calculated about 10 weeks until June, which is when the White House event would take place,” he said.

While the challenger that he ends up facing will have a big impact on whether it makes sense to have him on this particular event, another concern has been raised.

Alan Nascimento doesn’t expect the talk around Russians not being able to fight at the White House to be an obstacle to them because Chimaev has always represented other places in the UFC.