Chimaev Offered Strickland $1 Million Because He Thought He Was Going to Die Making Weight

Khamzat Chimaev was willing to pay Sean Strickland a million dollars out of his own pocket to avoid continuing his weight cut before UFC 328. A million dollars. From his own bank account. Because the man cutting to 185 pounds genuinely believed he might die if he kept going.

TJ Dillashaw just went on MMA Fighting and laid out the full horror story of what Chimaev's body went through in the 24 hours before the biggest fight of his life. And bro the details are genuinely crazy.

What Dillashaw Saw

Dillashaw was there. He was physically present during Chimaev's fight camp and the weight cut. He owns Wild Society Nutrition now and he's a former two time bantamweight champion who nearly killed himself with weight cuts during his own career. The man knows what a bad cut looks like better than almost anyone alive.

And he said Chimaev was on the verge of death.

"Khamzat looked like an animal for his camp, like he was unbeatable. 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."

Chimaev started camp nearly 50 pounds over the 185 pound limit. That's already aggressive. But the bigger problem was WHO was managing the cut.

Dillashaw said he introduced Chimaev to Sam Calavitta, a nutrition and weight cut specialist that Dillashaw calls "the best in the business." But Chimaev's team went with someone else instead. Dillashaw didn't name them directly but called them a fraud.

"Unfortunately, they had trusted someone else to do some of his nutrition and weight cut towards the end and it just ruined it all."

Green Bile and a Bathtub

Here's where it gets really bad.

Dillashaw described watching Chimaev sit in a bathtub to cut weight during the final stages. He said Calavitta would never have done it that way. The bathtub method is an old school technique where fighters sit in hot water to sweat out pounds. It works but it's brutal on the body and if you're already depleted it can push you past the point where your organs start shutting down.

"And then I saw him sitting in the bathtub to cut weight. 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 crazy s**t. He should not have made it to the fight."

Green bile. That means his body had nothing left to throw up. No food or water. Just bile from his liver because there was literally nothing else in his system. His body was eating itself trying to get him to the scale.

Then his body stopped sweating.

Dillashaw explained that when you lose too much water too fast without replenishing properly, your brain essentially hits the emergency brake. It stops sweating because it's trying to preserve whatever fluid is left to keep your organs functioning. At that point you're not cutting weight anymore. You're in a medical crisis.

Half a Thyroid

This is the detail that makes the whole thing even scarier.

Chimaev has half a functioning thyroid. Dillashaw confirmed this publicly. The thyroid controls your metabolism. If yours is only running at 50%, your body processes food, water, and weight loss completely differently than a normal person's. A weight cut that would be aggressive but manageable for a healthy fighter becomes potentially fatal for someone whose metabolism is already compromised.

"His metabolism is half of a normal man's. 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."

A former champion who has been through extreme weight cuts himself, who now runs a nutrition company, is saying publicly that another fighter was on the verge of death. He's not being dramatic. He's not selling a story. He was there. He watched it happen.

The Million Dollar Offer

This is the part that should terrify everyone.

Chimaev was in such bad shape during the cut that he offered to pay Strickland $1 million out of his own money to accept a catchweight fight instead of forcing him to continue cutting to 185.

"He wanted to give Strickland $1 million and say, 'Hey, take it. I can't make it, I'm going to die.'"

Think about that for a second. A UFC champion was so physically broken by his weight cut that he was willing to pay his opponent a seven figure bonus from his own bank account just to stop the process. That's not a fighter looking for an excuse. That's a man in a medical emergency trying to find any way out that doesn't involve continuing to destroy his body.

Strickland didn't accept it. Or the offer never formally got made. Either way, Chimaev kept cutting. Made the weight somehow. Stepped on the scale looking like a skeleton. And then 24 hours later fought five rounds for the middleweight championship of the world.

What This Means for the Fight

We picked Chimaev by submission and we were wrong. Strickland won by split decision and we owned it. But Dillashaw's story changes how you evaluate that result.

The fight we watched wasn't Chimaev vs Strickland. It was a version of Chimaev who had been puking bile, sitting in a bathtub, operating on half a thyroid, and was so close to death that he tried to pay his way out of the weight cut versus a fully healthy Strickland who walked to the cage feeling normal.

Chimaev dominated round one with wrestling and back control. By round two he was gassing. We attributed it to Strickland's adjustments and pressure. And Strickland DID make adjustments. His reversals in round two were genuine championship level fighting. But the reason those adjustments worked so well is at least partially because Chimaev's body was already shutting down from what happened on the scale 24 hours earlier.

Dillashaw actually thinks Chimaev won. "I thought he won at least three rounds with the fourth round even being close. It was not a robbery. It was a close fight due to Khamzat's underperformance. Massive underperformance."

He even pointed out that in rounds four and five, Chimaev was still the one moving forward and landing the bigger shots while Strickland was winning rounds "going backwards throwing a jab." Whether you agree with that read or not, the fact that a nearly dead Chimaev was still competitive in the championship rounds tells you something about how good he actually is when he's healthy.

The Rematch Question

This all ties back into the rematch debate. Dana said "we don't know what we're going to do yet" when asked about booking Chimaev vs Strickland 2. Chimaev said "somebody has to die" in the second fight. Strickland said Chimaev needs to earn it.

But after Dillashaw's interview, the rematch conversation has shifted. Because now the question isn't "can Chimaev beat Strickland?" The question is "can Chimaev beat Strickland at middleweight without nearly killing himself to get there?"

If he can't make the weight safely, the rematch at 185 is a repeat of UFC 328. Another compromised Chimaev. Another version of the champion who's fighting at 60% because his body gave up half its fluid to make a number on a scale.

And if he moves to 205 like he initially told Dana, the rematch never happens at all. Strickland keeps the belt and fights Imavov. Chimaev starts over in a new division. And the only middleweight title fight between them goes down in history as a fight where one guy was on the verge of death before the cage door even closed.

Either way, the Strickland upset deserves an asterisk now. Not because Strickland didn't earn the win. He did. Split decision, fair and square, two of three judges. But because the fight we watched on May 9 was never a fair representation of what a healthy Chimaev looks like at middleweight. And that matters for the legacy of the result.

Thanks for riding with CageLore. Stay locked in!

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened during Chimaev's UFC 328 weight cut?

TJ Dillashaw revealed that Chimaev was puking green bile, sitting in a bathtub to cut weight, and was "on the verge of death" during the final stages of his cut to 185 pounds. Chimaev started camp nearly 50 pounds over the limit and his body stopped sweating during the cut.

Did Chimaev really offer Strickland $1 million?

Yes. Dillashaw said Chimaev offered to pay Strickland $1 million out of his own pocket to accept a catchweight fight instead of forcing him to continue cutting. Dillashaw quoted Chimaev as saying "Hey, take it. I can't make it, I'm going to die."

What is Chimaev's thyroid condition?

Chimaev has half a functioning thyroid, which means his metabolism operates at roughly half the rate of a normal person's. Dillashaw said this makes properly managed weight cuts critical because "if you're not treating it the right way, you could kill him."

Who was responsible for the bad weight cut?

Dillashaw blamed an unnamed nutrition and weight cutting advisor, calling them a "fraud." He said Chimaev's team chose this advisor over Sam Calavitta, whom Dillashaw recommended and calls "the best in the business."

Does Dillashaw think Chimaev won the fight?

Dillashaw said he thought Chimaev won at least three rounds but called the result "not a robbery." He described it as "a close fight due to Khamzat's underperformance. Massive underperformance" caused by the weight cut.

Will there be a rematch?

Dana White said "we don't know what we're going to do yet." Chimaev is demanding the rematch. Strickland said Chimaev needs to earn another shot. Nassourdine Imavov is also in line for a title fight with a five fight win streak.