You might be surprised to see middleweight contender Brendan Allen training alongside champ Khamzat Chimaev, given the pair could potentially fight some day.
Then again, Chimaev appears to have brought in an all-star roster of training partners for his fight with Sean Strickland atop UFC 328. Names include Allen, Khalil Rountree Jr., Pat Downey, and Baisangur Susurkaev, among others, plus Chimaev’s own crew. “It’s been a great opportunity, it’s been a great experience,” Allen (26-7) told media outlets including Cageside Press on Thursday. “I’ve learned a lot, had a lot of good goes, and what a way for me to jump into camp than finishing up with the champ at the end of his camp.”
“The team was great, creating a bond with Khamzat was great, he’s a good friend to me now, and I look forward to the future.”
Of course, Allen was once campaigning for a fight with Chimaev, and even spoke up to get it. That’s something he addressed wit hthe UFC middleweight champion in advance of working with him.
“I know it’s going to come out eventually that I used to talk sh*t or talk about Khamzat. But I had that conversation with him and his team before I came here. It was just trying to get the fight. I wanted to fight him, I knew he had the biggest name at the time, I’m always trying to fight the best guy I can fight,” Allen explained. “But after being here with him, sharing rounds with him, talking with him, communicating with him, creating that bond, I think he’s an awesome guy. I think he’s a standup guy. I think that old adage of him as a wild guy, I don’t know that Chimaev. All I know is the Chimaev that I got to meet this time, and I consider him a good friend at this point.”
Chimaev and Strickland face off at UFC 328 in New Jersey in just over a week’s time. Brendan Allen meets Edmen Shahbazyan on June 6, 2026 at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas.
