Undefeated 170-pound phenom Khamzat Chimaev claims to have front kicked fellow UFC welterweight Kevin Holland after “Trailblazer” volunteered to shave the beard of “Borz,” one of many backstage altercations that forced promotion president Dana White to pull the plug on the UFC 279 press conference. Chimaev also insists he got into a scrap with opponent Nate Diaz ahead of their Sept. 10 pay-per-view (PPV) main event in Las Vegas and delivered off-camera justice to the uncrowned prince of Stockton.
“I told them not to play with us,” Chimaev said. “Kevin and Nate got what they deserved.”
“What happened was that Khamzat went inside by himself, then he came and it started with Kevin Holland and gave him, like, a boot in the chest,” coach Andreas Michael said on Instagram. “Then they started whatever they’re doing and then the Diaz crew came in and they started doing what they were doing. But nobody got injured, thank God.”
Or touched, according to Holland.
That’s weird I didn’t feel a thing ???@UFCStatsBot please update this as a failed attempt via Chimaev. https://t.co/mjX8Koqaak
— Kevin Holland (@Trailblaze2top) September 9, 2022
Outside of Holland’s argument with Darren Till (see it here), video has yet to surface of the backstage melee. As for the UFC 279 event, Holland battles welterweight up-and-comer Daniel Rodriguez on the PPV main card while Till is on location to support Chimaev in the main event. That’s assuming we can get through the next 24 hours without any more incidents, which remains a concern for today’s UFC 279 ceremonial weigh ins.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 279 fight card, starting with the early UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET as well as the remaining undercard balance on ESPNN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET by clicking HERE. That’s followed by the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV with live results and “Khamzat vs. Diaz” play-by-play action RIGHT HERE.
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