Midnight Mania! Team Diaz Dismisses Khamzat’s ‘Fairy Tale’ $2 Million Bonus Offer

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Back in September 2022, Khamzat Chimaev remained undefeated by rolling through Kevin Holland en route to a first-round submission win at UFC 279. Yet again, “Borz” was barely touched in the process, proving himself an elite class of fighter. Oddly enough, UFC 279 could still be considered the lowest point yet in Chimaev’s professional career.

The weigh-ins were simply a disaster. Chimaev missed weight so terribly the whole card was shuffled about, rearranging three fights atop the card. Chimaev’s original opponent, Nate Diaz, instead wound up facing and defeating Tony Ferguson, a much more appropriate match up given where everyone was at in their professional careers.

It was a bad look for “Borz,” one that may have resulted in a move to Middleweight. Recently, however, Chimaev revealed in an interview that Chechen dictaor Ramazan Kadryov offered an additional $2 million payment to Diaz in order to allow the original match up to unfold.

“Ramzan Akhmatovich called me and said he would give Nate $2 million to agree to the fight,” Chimaev said. “I told Diaz, but he still refused. He didn’t want to fight me and just found another option.”

Team Diaz quickly responded to his claim. Nate Diaz’s representative Zach Rosenfield issued a statement to ESPN, denying anything like this ever occurred.

“It is fun fiction for Khamzat,” the statement reads. “Just lacks a shred of truth, including what he was supposed to make. At what point in Khamzat’s fairy tale did he ask Nate? When he tapped out of his weight cut at 2 AM? When he was being held in isolation at the UFC PI so the story wouldn’t get out? The only millions that were negotiated on Friday were the millions more we got for fighting Tony after Khamzat was not professional enough to show up for the fight we asked for.”

Currently, Chimaev is rumored to be fighting Robert Whittaker next. Diaz, meanwhile, remains a free agent with many potential suitors, so his next move is unclear.

Insomnia

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Random Land

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Midnight Music: Indie rock, 2010

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.