“It actually started back after the fight with Israel Adesanya, when I won the UFC middleweight championship belt,” said the Brazilian, answering fan questions on his Youtube channel. “Chimaev challenged me, stated that he wanted to take the title away from me. I offered him a bantamweight fight, but he refused”
“Now I’m the bantamweight champion and he challenges me to a bantamweight fight. It shows that he’s the kind of fighter that goes after the hype surrounding champions and tries to get attention. What should I do? Challenge him to a heavyweight fight? None of this makes any sense to me.”
On Nov. 11 at UFC 295 in New York City, Alex Pereira won the vacant UFC heavyweight championship belt by finishing former division champion Jiri Prohazka by technical knockout in the second round.
Khamzat Chimaev had his last fight on October 21 at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi, defeating former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman by majority decision. The Chechen fighter is currently a prime candidate to fight the winner of the title fight between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis, who will headline UFC 297 in Toronto on Jan. 20.