Khamzat Chimaev went off on Ikram Aliskerov for verbally agreeing to a rematch.

Aliskerov was recently asked whether he would be open to a rematch against Chimaev. Aliskerov said he would be open to fighting Chimaev on two days’ notice, considering “Borz” is the champion.

“Of course, if they offered me a title fight, I’d be ready in two days,” Aliskerov said (via Championship Rounds). “… I don’t train with weak guys either. I’m always training, always in shape, always ready. If you’re an athlete with championship ambitions and you get offered a title fight, how could you say no?”

Responding to Aliskerov, Chimaev brought up the fact that his name has been dragged into interethnic issues whenever he called out Dagestanis. The Chechen-born sees hypocrisy when the same doesn’t apply to Dagestani fighters like Aliskerov.

‘Stop Being Hypocritical’

“Why do people give interviews to these idiots? When I say I will fight someone from Dagestan, it’s an interethnic problem,” Chimaev wrote on his Instagram Stories. “When they say they’ll fight me it’s sport. Stop being hypocritical.”

Chimaev knocked out Aliskerov in their first meeting in 2019 under the Brave CF banner. However, Chimaev later acknowledged Aliskerov as the toughest matchup of his career. Chimaev joined the UFC just one fight later, where he is riding a nine-fight winning streak, topped off by a middleweight title win over Dricus Du Plessis in his last outing at UFC 319 this past August.

Meanwhile, Aliskerov earned his contract on the Contender Series and made his UFC debut in 2023. Aliskerov has finished all three of his UFC wins in the first round, only losing to former champ Robert Whittaker on short notice.