Neil Magny is confused why Dana White hasn’t made the fight after Magny said he would fight Khamzat Chimaev.
But the UFC welterweight is now left confused as to why the contract to fight Chimaev hasn’t come through yet, after the build up alongside Magny saying he would fight the welterweight bogeyman.
After rumors of “Borz’s” retirement due to implications from covid he made his return at UFC 267 against fan favourite Li Jingliang.
But since Chimaev’s return there has been no talk of the two welterweights fighting, Magny spoke about this during a recent interview on The MMA Hour.
“That’s the thing, I mean like, I’m trying to wrap my head around and I can’t figure it out. So last year was this whole, ‘No one wants to fight Khamzat Chimaev’. So Dana White came out and said, ‘You know what? I’m gonna give credit where it’s due, Neil Magny is the only guy that is willing to step in and fight Khamzat Chimaev’. I thought when he said that I was gonna be like, ‘Alright cool, Dana White acknowledged that. I’m the only guy who wants to fight Khamzat, this fight’s gonna happen. Let me just go ahead and wait for this contract to come through and yeah, here we are a year later, still discussing the same thing”. (Transcribed by Sportskeeda)
Is this the fight that makes sense for both Neil Magny and Khamzat Chimaev
With both fighters now being ranked the “Wolf” also spoke about their rankings in the interview: “No man, I’m here. I’ve been trying to fight you for literally a year. Last year you weren’t even ranked and I said, ‘Sure, I’ll take the fight.’ This year you’re finally ranked, you’re #11, I’m #7 and still not sure. Let’s make the fight, let’s make it happen”.
Magny is currently ranked seventh in the welterweight division, and has won four out of his last five bouts. This would be the perfect fight for him considering the media attention around “Borz”, a win could put the “Wolf” in contention for a title shot.
However this fight doesn’t really seem like Chimaev has much to gain apart from moving up in the rankings. Neil Magny is a relatively unknown fighter to the casual fan and seems like he could be a difficult matchup for him