Nassourdine Imavov claims Khamzat Chimaev injury has delayed middleweight title fight

Nassourdine Imavov is waiting on Khamzat Chimaev.

Imavov is the No. 1 contender at middleweight and is holding out for a title shot. Yet, no fight has been booked, and that is because Chimaev suffered an injury.

“So, no final news yet,” Imavov told MMA Fighting. “No contract signed or whatever. One of the last discussions I had with them was with Hunter Campbell and Mick Maynard in Doha, Qatar when it was a Doha event. And the thing that they told me is that they wanted to schedule the fight against Khamzat for December, then for February, but then Khamzat got injured and they were thinking about when they can (have) this fight.

“But nothing confirmed yet. We spoke recently with Mick Maynard, the matchmaker, and he was [talking about] the fight against Khamzat, but we don’t have final approval, or whatever.”

Nassourdine Imavov expects to face Khamzat Chimaev

Although Chimaev has hinted at moving up to light heavyweight, Imavov is confident he will get that fight first. Although Imavov knows Chimaev will likely be at light heavyweight in the future, the Frenchman trusts that Dana White will make him have at least one title defense.

“I know him, he’s really heavy for the middleweight division, and that’s why he wants to go up to 205,” Imavov explained. “Now Dana said he doesn’t want someone to go up without defending. So if Dana says it, it’s like this. And that’s the UFC who manages everything at the end.

“But if we speak about Khamzat going up, like we saw some exceptions in the past and everything, and Khamzat is, maybe, a big enough star to go up without defending, but it doesn’t matter in the end. It will be the choice of the UFC. And me? I’m ready for whatever.”

Imavov is 17-4 and one NC and coming off a decision win over Caio Borralho.