Outside Source
Chimaev lost his middleweight title to Strickland in a huge upset at UFC 328 last month. Chimaev look visibly fatigued after a sloppy takedown attempt in the second round and wasn’t nearly as dominant with his wrestling thereafter. “Borz” also had a terrible weight cut, with many even accusing him of missing weight.
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Chimaev (15-1) was doing his strength and conditioning training under coach Calavitta at The Treigning Lab aka the Garage in California. Chimaev’s close friend Tsarukyan and other fighters like Khalil Rountree also joined him in camp at the Garage. The team, including athletes from different sports, were seen undergoing gruelling training sessions under coach Cal. Calavitta has faced severe backlash from fans and pundits following Chimaev’s first professional loss. Calavitta is being accused of overtraining Chimaev with a regimen which is not specifically efficient for MMA.
Professional Responsibility
However, Tsarukyan (23-3) believes coach Calavitta is not to be held responsible for Chimaev’s loss. According to Tsarukyan, Chimaev’s last training session at the Garage was hardly 20 minutes. Tsarukyan also hints that athletes at the highest level of the sport should know their limits well and can just opt out of training when tired.
“When he wins everybody says, ‘Oh yeah, [coach] did a good job.’ He lost, everyone is saying he’s doing the wrong things and that they overtrained,” Tsarukyan said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “But Khamzat’s last training session in the garage was only 15-20 minutes. At this level, you’re a professional. You gotta to control yourself. If you feel tired, just skip the training.”
Another student of coach Cal, former UFC bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw, hinted that Chimaev went somewhere else for his weight cut. Dillashaw believes Chimaev’s weight cut went wrong because he gave the responsibility to someone else other than Calavitta.
Arman Tsarukyan pushes back on criticism of strength and conditioning coach Sam Calavitta following Khamzat Chimaev‘s loss:
“Because he lost, everyone is saying he’s doing the wrong things and that he overtrained. But Khamzat’s last training session in the garage was only 15-20… pic.twitter.com/tmOlg0dxWc
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 1, 2026
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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