Khamzat Chimaev’s brother Artur has confirmed rumors that the star had difficulties during his weight cut prior to his middleweight title loss against Sean Strickland at UFC 328 last weekend.

“There was a problem with the weight cut,” Artur told sports.ru [translated] “The question became whether to cancel the fight or take the risk. When there was [2.7 pounds] left, his body shut down… Oxygen deprivation. His body malfunctioned. We had to stop for an hour because his health wouldn’t allow him to continue… Khamzat himself said he didn’t know how he’d fight in that condition.

There’s layers to this story though as Artur reveals that Khamzat had actually originally been preparing for a fight up at 205lbs, before being convinced into taking a middleweight title defense instead, which had an impact on the amount of weight he had to cut.

“There was an agreement with the UFC that he would fight Jiri Prochazka at 205,” Artur said. “The contract was already prepared, but then they asked him to fight Sean instead… so he accepted and decided to cut from [231 pounds] down to [185 pounds]. By fight time he had only regained around [11-13 pounds]… Two weeks before the fight he weighed [214 pounds].”

Now fans are wondering what comes next for Khamzat, and it seems there are mixed messages about his plans.

On Saturday night after the event Dana White claimed that Khamzat had told him immediately after the event that he was going to move up to 205lbs for his next fight.

However, Khamzat’s brother is now claiming that the ex-champ now wants a rematch with Strickland later this year.

“We’ve requested a rematch with Strickland,” Artur said. “There’s an event in Abu Dhabi in October and we want to do it there.

“Khamzat isn’t the type of person to move to another weight class and leave unanswered questions behind. We want the second fight. Right now we have no other goals.”