Khamzat Chimaev leaves Sweden, emigrates to United Arab Emirates

Khamzat Chimaev has been off the radar for a large portion of 2023. He’s had no fights, and speculation has run rampant as to why. He says he’s been ready to compete. The UFC says he hasn’t. Who is to blame? What is going on? We have no answers.

What we do have: Chimaev will compete at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi against Paulo Costa. The October fight will be Khamzat’s return to middleweight, where he will remain moving forward. Moving up a weight class is already a big change. Now there’s one more big move to add between fights.

According to Chimaev’s manager Majdi Shammas, Chimaev has left Sweden, where he previously lived and trained, and has emigrated to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“He has emigrated, he is no longer Swedish,” Shammas told Swedish outlet SVT Sports. When asked why, the manager didn’t elaborate, simply saying “He wanted to emigrate.”

According to Shammas, Chimaev has been training for the Costa fight in his new home for the past several weeks.

In a new video posted to Chimaev’s YouTube, the newly minted UAE fighter shared footage training from Dubai. Missing is Allstars Training Center coach Andreas Michael. This time BJJ world champion Alan “Finfou” do Nascimento is listed as his coach, although we don’t know if “Borz” has officially changed teams.

Chimaev shared his thoughts on the upcoming October 21st fight.

“Smash that guy [Costa], then it doesn’t matter if it will by Izzy [Adesanya] or Strickland or somebody else,” he said. “We coming for them. Strickland! Coming for him.”

Khamzat usually doesn’t compliment other fighters, but he had some kind words for new middleweight champion Sea Strickland.

“He works hard, deserves it,” Chimaev said. “The guy is always in the gym. Now he got the belt. He has a good coach, good team. I’ve been there training with that guy. They deserve that belt. He has been active, fights with everybody.”

He then let some of his frustration with being on the sidelines through.

“I don’t know why the guys [at UFC] are waiting,” he said, shaking his head. “Give that chance to me! They are hiding that belt from me. Anyway, like I said: when I smash everybody, they has to give that belt to me.”