Sean Strickland isn’t expecting to fight Khamzat Chimaev anytime soon.

Former middleweight champion Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) will look to emerge as No. 1 contender when he takes on Anthony Hernandez (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 267 headliner (Paramount+) at Toyota Center in Houston.

Potentially standing in his way is Nassourdine Imavov (17-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC), who is on a five-fight winning streak. If Imavov is indeed next for UFC middleweight champion Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC), Strickland doesn’t like his chances.

“It’s hard now,” Strickland told Full Send MMA on the state of middleweight. “Chimaev’s got the belt. Say he fights Nassourdine after Ramadan. He’s probably going to beat Nassourdine. He’s probably going to take him down and just dry hump him for 25 minutes.

“In the process, he’s going to sprain his ovaries, and the next thing you know Chimaev is going to be on the bench for another year and a half. The middleweight division is just ice. This is what happens when you let the little Chechnyan wh*re in.”

Chimaev claimed the middleweight title by dominating Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319 this past August. He hasn’t competed more than once a year since 2022.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Sean Strickland rips UFC champion Khamzat Chimaev for inactivity