The 4 Best Opponents for Khamzat Chimaev's Next UFC Fight

It's difficult to believe what Khamzat Chimaev pulled off at UFC 308.

The undefeated middleweight returned to action in the card's co-main event, taking on former champ Robert Whittaker, who is one of the best fighters in the division's history.

The pressure was on for Chimaev in his first fight since scoring a narrow decision win over a blown-up welterweight in Kamaru Usman last fall—a contest that raised serious questions about his gas tank and ability to reach the top of the division.

Many fans expected him to be overwhelmed by Whittaker, this one included. Those of us who leaned that way were proven very wrong.

Whittaker was the toughest test of Chimaev's career to date, but you wouldn't have known it. Before the first round was over, the former champion was frantically tapping to a brutal face crank that left him with a badly damaged jaw. He was mauled.

Chimaev's devastating win over Whittaker brought his record to a perfect 14-0 and cemented him as one of the best fighters at 185 pounds. The question now is who he faces next, particularly given he is unable to fight in a great many countries due to visa issues.

Here are four fights we think make sense for his next Octagon appearance, wherever in the world it ends up happening.

For some time, UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis has been expected to defend his belt against former champion Sean Strickland next.

It might be time to scrap that plan.

As a former champ who lost the belt to Du Plessis by the narrowest of margins earlier this year, Strickland certainly has some claim to a title shot. However, all he has done since losing the title to Du Plessis is beat Paulo Costa—who has been losing to everyone lately—in one of the worst fights of the year.

Chimaev, meanwhile, just absolutely destroyed a world-class foe in Whittaker. Sure, he hasn't been very active lately, but his win over the former champion is more impressive than anything Strickland has done since he beat Israel Adesanya to win the title last year.

Strickland is adamant he has been promised the shot before Chimaev, but the fact is that Chimaev deserves the opportunity more, and is seemingly much more likely to give Du Plessis a serious challenge.

Hopefully, the UFC matchmakers see the light and make Du Plessis vs. Chimaev next.

If Du Plessis is willing to wait for his next fight, the smartest move for the UFC might to be book Chimaev and Strickland against each other. The winner of that potential matchup would be the division's irrefutable No. 1 contender.

However, there are some definite wrinkles in this plan. Not only would a Chimaev vs. Strickland matchup mean Du Plessis is forced to wait around for his next challenger, but the two top contenders are also former training partners. They seem willing to fight each other, but you just never know. It's also hard to imagine Strickland taking any fight that isn't a title shot. After all, he had to be convinced to fight Costa earlier this year, and flat-out refused to fight Whittaker thereafter, all on the basis that he deserved a rematch with Du Plessis.

It's a bit of a long shot—and it's far from the perfect fight—but it's a solid option if for one reason or another Du Plessis isn't ready to defend his title soon.

No doubt Chimaev would be a massive betting favorite, but Strickland is full of tricks, so you never know. The lead-up to the fight would also be pretty entertaining if you find relentless trash talk appealing.

If the UFC decides to stick with its Du Plessis vs. Strickland plan, then Chimaev will have to look elsewhere for his next opponent. One interesting option in that situation would be former champ Israel Adesanya, who is easily the second-best fighter in middleweight history behind the great Anderson Silva.

This would be a huge fight. Chimaev and Adesanya are two of the biggest stars in the UFC today, and a potential meeting between them would have mainstream cache in a way that very few other fights do.

However, it's an imperfect booking from a competitive standpoint. Despite his incredible accomplishments, Adesanya is riding back-to-back losses to Strickland and Du Plessis—opponents he would have been expected to style on a few years ago—and seems to be nearing the end of his career. On top of that, the ferocious wrestler Chimaev seems like the worst possible matchup for the former champ under the best of circumstances.

Yes, it would be a big fight, but it's not particularly appealing because of the simple fact that it looks like a very, very bad matchup for Adesanya.

After the way he handled Whittaker, it's hard to imagine Chimaev fighting anybody outside of Du Plessis, Strickland, or Adesanya next, but crazier things have happened.

After all, if the UFC decides to stick with the Du Plessis vs. Strickland plan, and Adesanya is unavailable, Chimaev may need to fight another contender outside the division's top three.

If that's the way things shake out, the best option for Chimaev is probably surging Brazilian contender Caio Borralho. At 17-1 overall, Borralho is currently the fifth-ranked middleweight thanks to impressive wins over Paul Craig and Jared Cannonier.

He would undoubtedly be an underdog against Chimaev—like pretty much everybody else at this point—but arguably matches up better with the undefeated wrestler than either Strickland or Adesanya.

It would be a definite step back for Chimaev after last weekend's Whittaker win, but it's an interesting fight on paper, and the winner would be undeniable for a crack at the belt.