13 things about UFC Middleweight Champion Khamzat Chimaev

Khamzat “Borz” Khizarovich Chimaev is the reigning middleweight champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Fighting out of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, he holds a professional MMA record of 15 wins and 0 loss.

Chimaev is 6’2″ tall and he is a brown belt in Brazilian jiujitsu. His older brother named Artur Chimaev competes in freestyle wrestling.

BIOGRAPHY

Khamzat is an Russian professional mixed martial artist born in Gvardeyskoye, Chechnya, Russia. Before joining the UFC, he competed in the International Ring Fight Arena and BRAVE Combat Federation.

Before becoming a professional MMA fighter, Khamzat competed in judo and sambo. He is one of the proteges of Iranian-Swedish retired professional MMA fighter Reza Madadi.

As an amateur MMA fighter, Khamzat had 3 wins and 0 loss. He won at “Fight Club Rush 1” on September 10, 2017 in Västerås, Sweden, at “Kaisho Battle 14” on November 18, 2017 in Helsingborg, Sweden and at “Nordic Warrior 3” on April 14, 2018 in Nyköping, Sweden.

From 2018 to 2022, Khamzat competed in both welterweight and middleweight divisions in MMA and from 2021 to 2022, he competed only in the welterweight division. On March 21, 2020, the Swedish Martial Arts Association selected him as the Breakthrough Athlete of the Year over champions in karate and kickboxing.

On August 24, 2020, Khamzat attended “BRAVE CF 40” in Stockholm, Sweden to support his teammate Husein Kadimagomaev, who knocked out Sven “Fujin” Fortenbacher. On September 25, 2021, Khamzat cornered his teammate Bilal “Borz” Tipsaev, who fought Glenn McVeigh at “BRAVE CF 54” in Konin, Poland. 

Khamzat previously fought out of Stockholm. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. In 1996, he fell down on concrete stairs, which left a scar on his lip.
2. In 1999, he started his wrestling training at a wrestling club in Chechnya, which was just across the street from their house.
3. In 2013, he moved from Chechnya to Sweden as an asylum seeker. He first lived in Malmö and moved to Lidkopings before settling in Kalmar.
4. In 2015, he won gold medals at the Lilla Mälarcupen Championships, the Swedish Freestyle National Championships and the Hammarslaget Championships all at 86 kilograms.
5. At the Swedish Freestyle National Championships, he won gold medals at 86kg in 2016 and 2017 and another gold medal at 92kg in 2018.
6. From 2017 to 2023, he trained at Allstars Training Center in Stockholm.
7. In 2018, he won gold in the freestyle wrestling championship in Sweden.
8. On May 26, 2018, he made his professional MMA debut.
9. On July 16, 2020, he made his UFC debut.
10. In 2022, he started training Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov‘s sons Zelimkhan “Ali” Kadyrov and Adam Kadyrov.
11. On May 21, 2022, he got married in Chechnya and Kadyrov attended his wedding.
12. In 2023, he moved to the UAE and started competing only in the middleweight division.
13. On May 1, 2025, he turned 31.

TIMELINE

From 2018 to 2025, Khamzat defeated all of his 15 professional MMA opponents. Here are the details:

2018

• On May 26, 2018, he defeated Gard “Ragnarok” Olve Sagen via technical knockout at “IRFA 14” in Uppsala, Sweden.
• On August 18, 2018, he submitted Ole Magnor via rear-naked choke at “Fight Club Rush 3” in Västerås.
• On November 16, 2018, he defeated Marko Kisič via TKO at “BRAVE CF 18” in Manama, Bahrain.
• On December 22, 2018, he defeated Sidney Wheeler via TKO at “BRAVE CF 20” in Hyderabad, India.

2019

• On April 19, 2019, he knocked out Ikram Aliskerov at “BRAVE CF 23” in Amman, Jordan.
• On October 4, 2019, he defeated Mzwandile Hlongwa via technical submission via D’Arce choke at “BRAVE CF 27” in Abu Dhabi.

2020

• On July 16, 2020, he submitted John “The Welsh Wrecking Machine” Phillips via D’Arce choke at “UFC on ESPN 13” on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. 
• On July 26, 2020, he knocked out Rhys “Skeletor” McKee via punches at “UFC on ESPN 14” on Yas Island.
• On September 19, 2020, he knocked out Gerald Meerschaert at “UFC Fight Night 178” in Enterprise, Nevada.

2021

• On October 30, 2021, he submitted Jingliang Li of China at “UFC 267” on Yas Island.

2022

• On April 9, 2022, he defeated Gilbert Burns at “UFC 273” in Jacksonville, Florida, USA via unanimous decision.
• On September 10, 2022, he submitted Kevin Holland via Brabo choke at “UFC 279” in Enterprise.

2023

• On October 21, 2023, he defeated Kamaru Usman via majority decision at “UFC 294” in Abu Dhabi.

2024

• On October 26, 2024, he submitted Robert Whittaker via face crank at “UFC 308” in Abu Dhabi.

2025

• On August 16, 2025, he became the new UFC Middleweight Champion by dethroning then champion Dricus du Plessis via unanimous decision at “UFC 319” in Chicago, Illinois, USA.