The Wolf, or “Borz” as he goes by in his native language proved why he was the big bad wolf of UFC 279.
Chimaev, who was having trouble cutting weight for his bout with Nate Diaz in the main event spot, had to pull out when he was 7.5lbs over the limit.
The fans and fighters fans and were noticeably angry with Chimaev due to his lack of empathy that he missed weight and having the card almost jeopardized, smiling and flipping off the camera getting off the scale, and starting fights with all the other fighters backstage.
Despite all this pushback from fighters and fans created a villain type of character for Chimaev. Literally going from loved to complete heel getting booed at ceremonial weigh-ins, anytime he comes on camera at events, and his walkout, which has completely changed to how he was received entering the UFC. Still having “haters” but not to this magnitude.
At UFC 279 Khamzat made quick work of Kevin Holland in the first round with a D’arce choke (submission). Holland, who was his replacement opponent due to his weight issue, was in the co-main instead of Khamzat’s original spot, the main-event with Diaz.
After the fight Khamzat spoke with Megan Olivi a reporter for ESPN about him missing weight and he specified that he still wanted to do the fight with Diaz regardless of weight saying “I wanna fight, so I give all my money to the guy [Nate], I said it was almost 2 million, so i said give all my money to the guy, let him fight, if he’s that gangster he should fight for money yeah, but he didn’t wanna fight me, so who the gangster now”.
For a fighter that has recently entered into the UFC, Khamzat is already making more than some UFC champions.
