{"id":38511,"date":"2026-05-27T15:05:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Stephen-Thompson-Khamzat-Chimaev-beats-Sean-Strickland-in-rematch-201338"},"modified":"2026-05-27T15:05:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:05:43","slug":"stephen-thompson-khamzat-chimaev-beats-sean-strickland-in-rematch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/stephen-thompson-khamzat-chimaev-beats-sean-strickland-in-rematch\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Thompson: Khamzat Chimaev beats Sean Strickland in rematch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Stephen
\nThompson<\/a> believes the best version of Khamzat
\nChimaev<\/a> wasn\u2019t present at UFC
\n328<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Chimaev (15-1) put his middleweight title on the line against
\nSean
\nStrickland<\/a> at UFC 328 earlier this month. Strickland handed
\nChimaev his first professional loss via a split decision in a
\nmassive upset. <\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Thompson questions Chimaev\u2019s training going into the fight against
\nStrickland. Thompson recalls Chimaev had trained in the small
\nvillage of Kislovodsk, Russia, when he challenged Dricus Du
\nPlessis<\/a> at UFC 319 last year. Chimaev had ragdolled Du Plessis
\nfor five rounds to earn a dominant decision victory. However,
\n\u201cWonderboy\u201d is surprised that Chimaev didn\u2019t spent as much time in
\nthe same camp going into his first title defense. <\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when Khamzat was preparing for Du Plessis,\u201d Thompson
\ntold Full Mount MMA. \u201cI think he did a lot of training in [near
\nDagestan]. I don’t think he did a whole a lot for this one. Which
\nsurprised me.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

\ud83d\ude24\ud83d\udc3a Stephen
\nThompson<\/a> is CONFIDENT that Khamat Chimaev wins in the
\nrematch:<\/p>\n

“Do I think that was the best Chimaev that we’ve seen? No, I don’t
\nthink so. He looked a little fatigued, a little tired.”<\/p>\n

via @MMAFullMount<\/a>
\npic.twitter.com\/8ZKp0r8057<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Full Mount MMA (@MMAFullMount)
\nMay 26, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

Kislovodsk was the training center for Olympians ahead of the
\nMoscow Olympics in 1980. The small village in the Northern Caucasus
\nmountains is still used as a training hub for several elite
\nathletes across different sports. <\/p>\n

Swing and Miss Performances<\/h2>\n

Thompson believes Chimaev was not at his best in his title defense
\nagainst Strickland. Thompson believes \u201cBorz\u201d will defeat Strickland
\nin a potential rematch. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think Chimaev [wins the rematch] for sure,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cNot
\nsaying he didn\u2019t take the last one seriously. But it\u2019s like a swing
\nor a miss sometimes when you watch Chimaev fight. He looks immortal
\na lot when he faces up against some guys but then there is that one
\nguy who just makes him look mortal\u2026 Do I think that was the best
\nChimaev that we’ve seen? No, I don’t think so. He looked a little
\nfatigued, a little tired. He wasn\u2019t as aggressive as you normally
\nsee him.\u201d <\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

\ud83c\udfd4\ufe0f\ud83e\udd14 Stephen
\nThompson<\/a> says Khamzat
\nChimaev<\/a> may NOT have been as prepared for Strickland because he
\ndidn\u2019t have the same training camp in southern Russia that he had
\nbefore the DDP fight:<\/p>\n

“I remember when Khamzat was preparing for Du Plessis I think he
\ndid a lot of training in\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/VPiqIBqJ5m<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Full Mount MMA (@MMAFullMount)
\nMay 26, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen Thompson believes the best version of Khamzat Chimaev wasn\u2019t present at UFC 328.  Chimaev (15-1) put his middleweight title on the line against Sean Strickland at UFC 328 earlier this month. Strickland handed Chimaev his first professional loss via a split decision in a massive upset.  Advertisement Thompson questions Chimaev\u2019s training going into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}