Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw said Khamzat Chimaev endured a severe and potentially dangerous weight cut before losing the UFC middleweight title to Sean Strickland at UFC 328.
Chimaev suffered the first defeat of his professional MMA career after Strickland earned a split decision victory in their five-round main event to reclaim the middleweight championship earlier this month in New Jersey.
Speaking to MMA Fighting, Dillashaw said Chimaev received poor guidance during the process and claimed the fighter’s body nearly shut down. “I mean, if I could put it to one thing… like your body will shut down. Like you can’t go and lose 10 pounds all at once and not drink enough water to tell your brain and your body, like, ‘Hey, let’s keep losing weight. Let’s keep pushing water.’ If you lose too much of it too fast in one sitting, your body will stop sweating,” Dillashaw said.
Dillashaw alleged Chimaev consumed significantly less water than recommended while attempting to cut a substantial amount of weight in a short period of time. “He drank a quarter of the water he was supposed to drink and then lost four times the amount he was supposed to lose in one sitting, and his body just gave out,” Dillashaw said. “And he did not want to make the weight. He wanted to give Strickland $1 million and say, ‘Hey, take it. I can’t make it, I’m going to die.’ And you forget this guy’s got half a thyroid, right? His metabolism is half that of a normal man. And so if you’re not treating it the right way, you could kill him. And I really believe he was on the verge of death making that weight cut.”
Dillashaw also described what he saw during the latter stages of the cut and questioned the methods being used by Chimaev’s camp. “And then I saw him sitting in the bathtub to cut weight. It was like, Sam [Calavitta] wouldn’t have him sitting in the bathtub to cut weight,” Dillashaw said. “And then to hear the story of what actually was happening to him and him puking up green bile and just all the like crazy s***. He should not have made it to the fight.”
Despite the loss to Strickland, Chimaev is reportedly interested in an immediate rematch later this year rather than moving permanently to the light heavyweight division. The weight cut concerns are expected to become a major focus if negotiations for a second fight move forward.
