Sometimes mishaps happen in sports that lead back to a serendipitous moment, and when it happens in the fight game, fireworks are the eventual result. Yesterday during the weigh-ins for UFC 279, Khamat Chimaev, headlining opponent for UFC veteran Nate Diaz, missed weight by a mile.
The fight tales place tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The fight contracted with a 171lbs limit. However, Chimaev (11-0) showed up to the sale at an egregious 178.5lbs, seven and a half pounds over the limit. What made the situation worse was Chimaev’s careless attitude and subsequent jokes about it on social media. In a world where the rules are similar to the Wild West, one thing is sacred: making weight.
Nate Diaz, who is on his final UFC fight on his contract and was being labeled as a setup fight for Chimaev’s rise into the UFC, felt vindicated. He refused to fight Chechen, who now appears to want to outweigh Diaz in the cage, and accepted the UFC’s replacement of Tony Ferguson (25-7). He expressed his feelings about the change in a way only he could communicate.
Nate Diaz, ladies and gentleman 🎙
[ @NateDiaz209 | #UFC279 ] pic.twitter.com/nDjaSpPh4X
— UFC (@ufc) September 9, 2022
“Tony’s been around a long time,” Diaz said during the weigh-in. “We should have fought a long time ago. Khabib’s bitch-ass was afraid of him, just like this b***h-ass motherf****r (Khamzat Chimaev) was afraid of me.
“Yesterday, we punched his bitch-ass in the back here and now he don’t know how to make weight. You know what I’m saying? You guys already know what it is. Real G’s come from California. America motherf****r!”
Diaz has been in a war of words and will with the UFC for a while. The homegrown winner of The Ultimate Fighter season 5 is one-half of the fighting Diaz brothers. His audacity, cannabis advocacy, and bad-boy attitude have made him a fan favorite, and at one time, he was the first significant nemesis of UFC superstar Conor McGregor. Now that he is fighting former Interim UFC Lightweight Champion, starving for a win during his current four-fight losing skid, Diaz seems to have pleased even his most prominent foe.
Congrats Nate Diaz on making it to the end of his contractual obligations with the UFC, and as a bonafide superstar goer. An incredible feat. Fair play.
Our trilogy will happen.— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 10, 2022
“Congrats Nate Diaz on making it to the end of his contractual obligations with the UFC and as a bonafide superstar goer. An incredible feat. Fair play. Our trilogy will happen,” McGregor posted.
Diaz, who has been on a two-fight losing skid against Jorge Masvidal and Leon Edwards, now gets to fight a former lightweight
champion and has the promise of a trilogy pairing in the future against McGregor, who is now the money fight in MMA.
Chimaev has skyrocketed in popularity in his young UFC career, and not making weight indicates that he still has a long way to go before primetime. This would have been his biggest fight, and now he fights UFC welterweight Kevin Holland (23-7) with an indignance that is making more enemies than fans.
“They stopped that sh*t (the weight cut), I don’t know,” Chimaev said to the weigh-in crowd. “Hey, this is Chechnya, motherf****rs. Shut up, guys. I’m going to f*ck your boy up; I f*ck him backstage as well.
“I don’t care, I want to smash everybody. I come here (to) f*ck everybody. I’m gonna take it over now.”
