Khamzat Chimaev lost his prestigious UFC middleweight belt to Sean Strickland over a bizarre split-decision loss. The setback was marked as his first ever career defeat. What upset his fans more than the loss was the ‘faked’ animosity to sell the UFC 328 fight.
Both fighters displayed raw aggression virtually and in-person, only to shake hands and behave strangely cordial with one another after the match. On top of that, majority of the audience found the fight very underwhelming because of poor performance displayed by Chimaev and Strickland.
They failed to live up to the hype created during the build-up of the grand event.
Khamzat Chimaev’s Revelation
In a recent Instagram Story, the former middleweight champion disclosed the following in response to public criticism:
“He said a lot of unnecessary things. People were asking why I shook his hand and why I put the belt on him afterward. We don’t have the habit of talking or fighting after a loss. If we fight, we fight inside the cage, and we fought as best as we could. What Allah has decided is no longer in our control. That guy lowered his head and asked for forgiveness. If a person asks for forgiveness, I can forgive him. I’m not an oppressor so that I would refuse to forgive”.
