Khamzat Chimaev is not doing his best to retain his fans. After badly missing weight for his main event clash with Nate Diaz this weekend at UFC 279 and forcing the promotion to change an unprecedented three pay-per-view (PPV) main card match ups, the undefeated Chechen fighter proceeded to flip off UFC fans after being booed at the ceremonial weigh ins (replay HERE).
Chimaev, who will now face Kevin Holland in the co-main event of UFC 279 later this evening (Sat., Sept. 10, 2022) live on ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV) from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, was expected to make major strides in his career this weekend in “Sin City.” The welterweight contender was a massive favorite to slice through Diaz, extend his unbeaten streak, and prepare himself for a 170-pound title shot his next time out.
That all went up in flames Friday morning when Chimaev topped the scales nearly eight pounds overweight. The incident sparked one of the most chaotic days in UFC history and it left “Borz” looking really bad in the eyes of UFC officials, MMA media members, and, most important, the fans. It seemed as if the pressure of becoming a massive UFC superstar was beginning to take its toll on Chimaev.
This trickled over into UFC 279’s ceremonial weigh ins, which went down just moments after UFC President, Dana White, announced the new main card line up. As Khamzat made his way to the stage for his co-main event staredown with Holland, he was showered with boos from UFC fans in attendance. Instead of taking it on the chin and accepting the backlash caused by his shocking weight cut, Chimaev decided to flip the crowd off and tell them to shut up. Check it out below:
Khamzat Chimaev flipped off the crowd after being showered with boos #UFC279 pic.twitter.com/kbldRiwk6z
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) September 10, 2022
“They stopped that s—t [the weight cut], I don’t know,” Chimaev said. “Hey, this is Chechnya motherf—kers. Shut up, guys. I’m gonna f—k your boy up, I f—k him backstage as well.
“I don’t care, I want to smash everybody,” he later added. “I come here [to] f—k everybody. I’m gonna take it over now.”
It’s unknown at this time what this week will do to Chimaev’s overall UFC stock. Will the promotion allow him to fight at Welterweight again? Will fight fans forgive him for nearly ruining the final fight of Nate Diaz’s UFC career?
These are questions that will get answered, but at least Khamzat has the opportunity to save some face on Saturday night and extend his unbeaten streak against Holland in the five-round PPV co-headliner.
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 ESPN/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 play-by-play action RIGHT HERE.
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