Khamzat Chimaev Unhappy With Dana White for Not Delivering Promised Title Shot

Khamzat Chimaev wants the title shot that was allegedly promised to him by Dana White.

Chimaev moved up to middleweight this past October, welcoming Kamaru Usman to the division on short notice at UFC 294.

“Borz” went on to score a tightly-contested majority decision win over the former welterweight champ. While the outing marked only his third middleweight win under the Ultimate Fighting Championship banner, the Chechen claims to have been guaranteed a title shot by the UFC CEO for his next outing.

Chimaev was expecting to face the winner of Sean Strickland vs. Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 on Saturday. However, Du Plessis called out Israel Adesanya after dethroning Strickland and “The Last Stylebender” has also expressed interest in that bout.

While “Borz” still hasn’t given up hope of fighting for the title next, he made clear that he isn’t happy with recent developments.

“They promised me after Usman fight, ’You will for sure going to fight for the title,' and I win that fight,” he told ESPN. “I don’t know what’s going on. I heard Dana White say stuff like ‘I don’t think Khamzat is next for the title.’ That’s bulls—t man.

“If you promised me something, you have to answer for your words. I’m the guy who always answers for my words, so I don’t care if it’s some president or somebody, like a king. If you give me your word, you have to answer for that. So, I grow up, when I give word, you have to answer for it… We’re doing that. I will be happy to answer for my words about killing them man, so we’ll see. Maybe in the USA it’s a different mentality.

“I don’t know. I will be surprised if that happens, if somebody fights [for the title] next that’s not me. So, we’ll see. I didn’t talk with Dana, I don’t know what he’s thinking, he knows better than me… For sure, in my mind, it should be me.”