The UFC president has revealed the health issue behind Chimaev’s weight miss before UFC 279.
Khamzat Chimaev weighed in for his welterweight fight against Nate Diaz at 178.5 pounds, seven-and-a-half pounds over the limit. Ariel Helwani reported the massive weight miss was due to a ‘medical issue,’ but no further details were provided.
That was until UFC president Dana White shed some light on what happened and revealed Chimaev was advised to stop cutting weight after ‘locking up’ and ‘cramping,’ which are the usual signs of a bad weight cut.
Though ‘Borz’ tried to continue, the doctors would not allow him to cut any more weight.
“So what happened was, he was cutting weight,” said White on SportsCenter. “If you saw him yesterday, he was very, very lean already and he should’ve come in on weight. He started to cut weight and he started locking up and cramping, all the things that happen from a bad cut.
“Unlike ten years ago, when we were doing this, they call in and we send a doctor up and the doctor determines whether he should keep cutting weight or not. And the doctor told him he shouldn’t. So we jumped on this [issue] this morning.
Because Chimaev fell short on the scales, his fight with Diaz was canceled and a bevy of new fights were created as a result. The six fighters sitting atop the pay-per-view event would essentially switch opponents, so the line-up is as follows: Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson, Khamzat Chimaev vs. Kevin Holland and Li Jingliang vs. Daniel Rodriguez.
Chaotic ordeal aside, White was happy to have salvaged the event on a few hours’ notice.
“Nate Diaz and Tony, like you said, the fans have wanted to see this one forever,” said White. “It’s gonna happen now before Nate leaves the UFC. And yesterday, there were a lot of questions about what happened. Kevin Holland and Khamzat Chimaev actually got into it yesterday backstage. Ironically, they will now fight on Saturday night, and ‘Leech’ vs. Rodriguez is also a fun fight. So, it literally couldn’t have played out any better.”
UFC 279 goes down on Sat., Sept. 10 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.