“If he is that gangster, he shoud fight for money. But he didn’t wanna fight me, you know. So, who’s the gangster now?”
UFC 279 standout Khamzat Chimaev has labeled Nate Diaz a fake gangster after claiming the latter turned down a $2 million offer to fight him on Saturday.
Khamzat claims he made an offer (his full fight purse, no less) to Diaz after missing weight on Friday but that the Stockton native backed out and opted to fight UFC veteran Tony Ferguson instead.
“I could make that weight, the doctor stopped that,” Chimaev told Megan Olivi in a post-fight interview (h/t Sportskeeda). “So yeah, what I could do now? I was waiting what UFC said to me. I said I wanna fight so I gave all my money to that guy. This was almost two million.. So I said give all my money to that guy, let him fight. If he is that gangster, he shoud fight for money. But he didn’t wanna fight me, you know. So, who’s the gangster now?”
Chimaev was relegated to the UFC 279 co-main event after missing weight, taking on ‘Big Mouth’ Kevin Holland at a catchweight of 180 pounds. He submitted Holland with a D’Arce choke in the opening round to extend his winning streak to 12 fights.
Diaz went on to submit Ferguson in the UFC 279 main event and called Khamzat a ‘lame, scared, boring rookie’ after the fight. Diaz vs. Chimaev is unlikely to be rescheduled due to Khamzat missing weight and Diaz wanting to conquer the sport of boxing next.