"We kind of dismissed that right away, 'Oh, he's too small for light heavyweight. He's gonna get knocked out right away.' I don't think so,"
"I think he would do very well at light heavyweight. His wrestling, in a division that's very low on great wrestling, I think he would do very good there."
Khamzat Chimaev won the middleweight title by dominant unanimous decision over Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319 in August 2025. He is considering a move up to light heavyweight to challenge Alex Pereira. Some observers question Chimaev's size for 205 pounds given his welterweight background. Reinier de Ridder argues that Chimaev's elite wrestling would compensate for size in a division low on high-level wrestlers. De Ridder began his UFC run with multiple stoppages, suffered an upset loss to Brendan Allen, and is scheduled to face Caio Borralho at UFC 326 on March 7 in Las Vegas.
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