The former UFC lightweight champion claims that Chimaev’s team is partly to blame for the chaos ahead of UFC 279, where Khamzat was originally set to take on Nate Diaz in the main event.
He may have walked away from UFC 279 with another win on his record, but his reputation hit him after getting into several altercations during fight week and then missing his target weight badly.
Khamzat managed to pick fights with both Kevin Holland and top-ranked middleweight Paulo Costa during fight week, as well as switch up half of the main card after weighing in at a whopping 80.7Kg – 3.4 Kg over the welterweight limit.
During both the official weigh-ins and the ceremonial weigh-ins Khamzat also took the opportunity to flip off the crowd-raise middle finger-! That might explain why the young prospect was booed during his walkout to the octagon, where he submitted “Trailblazer” Holland in the first round.
According to former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, Chimaev’s problems stem from the fact that he doesn’t have enough devout Muslims around him.
“If you are a Muslim, you should have good people around you,” Khabib said during a fundraiser for Pakistani flood relief.
He Continues “like good Muslims who can say: ‘Hey, don’t do this,’” Khabib said. “I recently watched the weigh-in of Khamzat Chimaev. I followed what was happening with his weight and looked at his team. There are no Muslims around him and this is very bad. Because if you are a Muslim, you need good, strong people around you. (They) will say: ‘Come back, do this.’”
“When you become famous and rich, when you gain power and there are no people who will give advice, or you do not listen to them, then something will happen. You need good people, even if you don’t like it, you need them.”
Chimaev would end up fighting Kevin Holland, while Diaz fought Tony Ferguson. While Chimaev came away with the win, his hopes of a welterweight title shot are dashed until he proves he can make weight reliably.
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According to Chimaev’s coach Andreas Michael, the Chechen fighter started cramping, throwing up, and passing out around four in the morning before the weigh-ins.
On advice from the UFC’s doctors, Michael aborted Chimaev’s weight cut, choosing his fighter’s health and safety over concerns about his fight.
It’s worth noting that Khabib missed weight on several occasions throughout his undefeated UFC career. Ahead of his fight against Tony Ferguson at UFC 209, Khabib was hospitalized after a brutal weight cut.
