What's Next For Khamzat Chimaev Following Dominant Middleweight Championship Victory Over Dricus Du Plessis?

T-Mobile Arena, considered by many as the home of the UFC - Source: Unsplash

Ever since 2020, when Khamzat Chimaev fought twice in the space of ten days at UFC Fight Island, he has looked like a superstar. Five years on, and the victories have piled up, but none of them were sweeter than his triumph against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319… Especially considering just how tight the betting odds were heading into the clash.

Online UFC betting sites had Chimaev listed as a narrow -185 victor, with the now-former champion DDP out at +160. The use of a bet payout calculator parlay shows just how close the fighters were in the odds lists, with the payout calculator indicating that a $100 bet on Chimaev would have secured a win of $54, while Du Plessis would have resulted in $160.

Across five rounds in Chicago, the unbeaten new champion smothered Dricus Du Plessis with layered takedowns, mat returns, and steady damage from the accumulation of a record-breaking 500-plus strikes. The spectacle was more suffocation than sizzle—call it a dud if you came for chaos—but the numbers tell a different story. Chimaev secured 12 takedowns, the second most ever in a UFC middleweight fight, and controlled more than 21 minutes while setting a UFC record for total strikes landed in a title bout. Judges didn’t have decisions to make; they had forms to sign.

So, who dares step into that undertow next? Let's take a look at the three frontrunners.

Nassourdine Imavov

Momentum matters in matchmaking, and Nassourdine Imavov has it. He’s riding a four-fight win streak, with two of his last three victories by knockout, including the lightning-bolt moment that jolted the division: a February stoppage of former long-reigning champion Israel Adesanya.

Stylistically, he’s the antithesis of panic. He fights tall, keeps his stance organized, and hits with precision rather than volume. He’s efficient—north of 59% accuracy on significant strikes—and he rarely overcommits, which limits level-change openings. The next checkpoint is already set: a September headliner against Caio Borralho in Paris. Win there, and his case becomes airtight.

Chimaev thrives when opponents give him first-layer entries—square feet, heavy chases, sloppy resets. Imavov denies those. He frames well, peels grips, and circles out without bleeding position. If he can make Chimaev shoot from farther away and pay for it with counters—straight rights down the pipe, check hooks as the head dips—he forces the champion to chain attempts in space rather than along the fence. That’s a different cardio tax.

Still, the task for Imavov to dethrone the newly crowned Borz borders on herculean. The Frenchman's patience can curdle into passivity against a top player who banks minutes. If Imavov concedes early top control, Chimaev will stack, flatten, and chip away, securing a comfortable victory just like the one against DDP in Chicago.

Sean Strickland

Sean Strickland’s resume still carries championship ink. Add his activity level and rabid fan interest, and you’ve got a contender who stays on the marquee. His game is famously unflashy, which is precisely why it works. He’s balanced. He’s stubborn. He lives behind a jab that never clocks out and uses subtle footwork to stay just off the barrel of big counters. He’s not chasing knockouts; he’s docking points, minute by minute.

Against Chimaev, the scaffolding is obvious. The champion’s A-plan is always early: shoot, chain, shelf a leg, settle into half guard, flatten hips, and work. But Strickland’s upright posture and defensive feel make him hard to hit clean or lift into easy finishes. He rarely overextends, so his hips are available to sprawl, and he hand-fights well in the clinch. That matters when you’re trying to stall a wrestler’s first cycle and force a reset.

What turns this from theoretical to compelling is pace. If Strickland can exit the first 10 minutes without a 10-8 round or a momentum-killing mount, the fight tilts into his rhythm—jabs, teeps, stance switches at the edge of range, and the kind of attritional damage judges reward. He doesn’t need to stuff every shot; he needs to make Chimaev work for every inch, then answer with steady offense. The chaos factor favors him, too. He welcomes messy exchanges and thrives in arguments.

The catch: Chimaev banks control time like a high-yield account. Even if Strickland wins pockets on the feet, he can’t surrender prolonged ground spells. One sticky back mount in rounds three or four can erase five minutes of clean boxing. Strickland’s durability is real. But durability without urgency against a champion who weaponizes position may not be enough.

Reinier de Ridder

If there’s a stylistic boogeyman for Chimaev, it might be Reinier de Ridder. The former ONE Championship middleweight king might not match the champion’s ferocity, but he can match (and in some sequences, surpass) his positional craft. He’s a clinch-first, body-lock specialist who trades double-legs for trips and rides. He’s long, patient, and lethal from dominant control: back takes, figure-fours, mount-to-arm-triangle sequences.

The Dutchman's recent ledger includes high-level tests—Robert Whittaker, Bo Nickal, Kevin Holland—fights that showcased his ability to translate set-ups into control rather than chaos. The threat here is less about the first shot and more about the second touch: he laces, he reaps, he turns your post into a lever. Against Chimaev, that creates rare jeopardy. Who wins the over-under exchanges on the fence? Who gets head position and underhooks first? Who trusts their guard if Plan A stalls?

On paper, this is the mat fight Chimaev hasn’t had to face in the UFC: an opponent comfortable conceding nothing on top, who can pester from front headlock, sap arms in prolonged pummeling, and punish half-commits with mat returns of his own. It’s also the one matchup where Chimaev might be incentivized to strike more—short combinations to clinch entries, elbows off breaks—to avoid 50-50 grappling hand-fights that burn gas without winning rounds. That ultimately is what Dana White is looking for, and it could give RDR the nod when it comes to determining a number one contender.