At UFC 328, Khamzat Chimaev suffered the first loss of his professional MMA career against Sean Strickland. Though ‘Tarzan’s brilliant striking earned plenty of credit, many still believe the Chechen star’s brutal weight cut, which seemingly drained his power and energy before his weigh-ins, played a major role in the shocking upset in Newark that night. Now, former UFC bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw, who has been around Khamzat for the better part of his UFC 328 camp, has now revealed more shocking details about his terrifying weight cut, accusing a few in his team of pushing him to the brink of death.
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“Khamzat looked like an animal for his camp, like he was unbeatable,” Dillashaw told MMA Fighting. “There was no way he was going to get beat. But then you get someone that you’re paying, there’s a lot of frauds in this world, and the way that they made him cut weight was horrible. What he needed to do, I introduced him to Calavitta, and Sam Calavitta is the best in the business. You can say whatever you want about it, what he does that people don’t do, he’s so smart and the amount of work that he puts into a camp is insane.
“[If] you want to reach that peak performance. He’s the guy to go with. And then, unfortunately, they had trusted someone else to do some of his nutrition and weight cut towards the end and it just ruined it all.”
While many agree that the weight cut to 185 lbs was too brutal for Khamzat this time around, the fact that the former middleweight champion’s team trusted someone else over a veteran strength and conditioning specialist like Sam Calavitta is surprising to say the least. And the fact that they couldn’t soundly manage his water intake during the cut is what made it all the more worse, according to the former champ.
“Well, the water,” Dillashaw continued. “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 to 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. Yeah, you might only have three pounds to go, but guess what? That’s gonna take you seven, eight hours because you’re dying. You’re straight up dying. Your body’s telling you you’re dying.
“They didn’t listen, right? And so 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. And he did not want to make the weight.”
According to Dillashaw, the cut got so terrifying that Chimaev even considered pulling out of the fight altogether.
“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 of a normal man,” the UFC veteran added. “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.
“And then I saw him sitting in the bathtub to cut weight. It was like, Sam wouldn’t have him sitting in the bathtub to cut weight… 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 sh-t. He should not have made it to the fight.”
While Dillashaw didn’t explicitly mention who he was referring to, Khamzat Chimaev’s nutrition coach has been Matteo Capodaglio of Kapo Nutrition for a while. However, it’s still unclear if Capodaglio was the one handling his nutrition for the Sean Strickland fight camp.
During the UFC 328 weigh-ins, Khamzat Chimaev appeared extremely depleted, prompting Daniel Cormier to point out on air that the Chechen looked “too skinny,” while others even speculated he might not make weight at all. Later, the 32-year-old fighter’s close friend Arman Tsarukyan revealed that Chimaev had cut nearly 45 pounds for his entire camp against Sean Strickland, an enormous amount of weight even by MMA standards.
However, despite the terrifying ordeal, Dillashaw remains confident that the Chechen star can make the weight properly next time around and win the rematch.
T.J. Dillashaw believes Khamzat Chimaev needs to get the middleweight title back before going up
After the fight, Dana White told the media that Khamzat Chimaev wanted his next bout to come at 205 pounds, citing the brutal difficulties surrounding his weight cut. However, shortly after recovering from the loss, the Chechen star began demanding an immediate rematch with Sean Strickland. That immediately sparked questions about whether he could even survive another middleweight cut. But according to Dillashaw, Chimaev can absolutely make 185 pounds again if the process is handled properly.
“People need to understand: What he pushed through to fight is impressive,” Dillashaw said in the same interview. “And to do it with, again, the guy’s got half a thyroid. Really. Do your research and understand what that does to your metabolism, and that’s why weight cuts are hard for him.
“He just needs to do it the right way. And I think he needs to get his ‘85 pound title back before going back up, or even deciding to go 205. Because dude, he was only 16 pounds over showing up to fight week.”
To be fair, Khamzat Chimaev did undergo thyroid surgery in the spring of 2021. His issues with the gland reportedly affected both his metabolism and energy levels, which ultimately led to the decision to remove it. Even after the surgery, the Chechen continued to struggle with weight-cutting problems, most notably when he missed weight by 7.5 pounds at UFC 279.
With the former middleweight champion’s recent weight-cutting struggles now coming to light, it will be interesting to see whether the UFC grants him another shot at Sean Strickland at 185 lbs or instead forces him to move up to light heavyweight, where the cut would presumably be far smoother and far less daunting.
