Situation with Khamzat I think is very clear. He is no longer hungry. Years ago, when he lived, trained and worked (as a bouncer) in Sweden, when he was in charge of taking care of family, he was hungry. Now look at him. Fancy clothes, expensive watch collection (some of them were given as gifts, but now he started to collect them by himself), luxury cars, he is loved and worshiped in Emirates, his friendship with Ramzan Kadyrov (head of the Chechen Republic) who gave him Maybach GLS600 as a present. I dont think Khamzat is now hungry and really interested in fighting. Not to mention he is a modest (or try to look) person, that prefer to spend time with his mother at home.
P.S. From Youtube video blogging: before UFC 328, Chimaev went to gucci store and bought every member of his team and friends bags (backpacks, over the shoulder bags, wallets), just as a present. He was a coach in Russian fighting reality show and gave one of his team members car as a present. I dont know how much money he has, but I think he has enough for him and his next generation to live without working and bothering about something.
Interesting.
I would imagine he made enough money to secure his financial future, i.e. he can afford to never work again while maintaining a fairly modest lifestyle, but I don't think he made nearly as much as to splash out money on buying expensive cars to people.
He only really had 3 high-profile fights prior to the Strickland fight. But maybe he made more from gifts from Kadyrov, sponsorship deals and other sources than he made from UFC fights.
He has really only just entered the stage of his career when the real money start flowing in. But not every fighter is primarily money-motivated.
My personal guess would be that he was really struggling with weight cutting, which took a massive toll on his body and fighting enthusiasm. But maybe we just don't want Strickland the credit he deserves. There were quite a lot of fighters who pointed him as a winner, which can't be a coincidence.
I think Chimaev will bounce back. And it's not like he got badly beaten by Sean. It was a close fight and a split decision loss.