With Khamzat Chimaev apparently still gearing up for a return at UFC 317 — despite a reported injury to champion, Dricus du Plessis, former Octagon star, Chael Sonnen claims the Chechen may struggle to find an opponent for the July card.
Chimaev, who was widely targeted to feature on the International Fight Week lineup, was tied heavily with a title fight against the incumbent, du Plessis in recent months.
However, over the course of the weekend, reports emerged detailing how Pretoria native, du Plessis is dealing with an unspecified injury — which is likely to prevent him fighting the incoming title challenger at UFC 317.
And as a result, a potential showdown for an interim crown against former training partner, Caio Borralho has been floated — mainly by the Brazilian himself.
Chael Sonnen hopes for Khamzat Chimaev, Caio Borralho fight
But according to Sonnen, a significant roadblock may prevent a pairing of Khamzat Chimaev and Caio Borralho in their respective returns to action.
According to the former middleweight and title challenger, a contract has been fielded to both Borralho, and surging contender, Nassourdine Imavov to face off with each other in a title eliminator, first and foremost.
“Now, I want to go back to a thought—I’ve been in communication here with Ariel Helwani—and I want to go back to a thought, and it was my original thought, which is (Nassourdine) Imavov,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “And Imavov has a lot to do with this. How so? Well, I love the idea of Caio Borralho versus Khamzat Chimaev. I love the idea of getting on with it. I love the idea of staying busy.
I love that as a main event—like, so far, everything is sounding right to me,” Sonnen added. “But there is a belief that Imavov and Caio Borralho have a contract, and there’s not very many times in history it can be done. It’s not to say it doesn’t exist with history, but there’s not very many times when we would interfere with an existing contract, no matter how bad we needed a fight.”
But as far as Borralho is concerned, he never alluded to an existing deal to fight Imavov, as he remains steadfast in his pursuit of an interim title showing against developing rival, Chimaev for UFC 317.
