Swedish MMA star Khamzat Chimaev was supposed to fight American Nate Diaz at the UFC 279 main event on Saturday night, but after Friday afternoon’s weigh-in it’s looking like that fight probably isn’t going to happen after all.
When Chimaev stepped on the scales on Friday afternoon, he came up a whopping 7.5 pounds too heavy for the welterweight weight class. The welterweight class groups competitors between 156 pounds and 170 pounds. Chimaev, meanwhile, weighed in at 177.5 pounds.
Khamzat Chimaev just missed weight by a whopping 7.5 POUNDS for the #UFC279 main event, leaving his fight vs. Nate Diaz in limbo.
Full results: https://t.co/zlhk1atufg pic.twitter.com/MpFo9BLhEk
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) September 9, 2022
With Diaz coming in so far overweight, it looks like the fight is off. And to make matters worse, according to Cole Shelton, Diaz’s camp believes that Chimaev came in overweight on purpose.
I talked to someone in Diaz's camp who said "Khamzat fight's not going to happen." They believe Chimaev didn't even try to make the weight and is basically cheating. The consensus around Diaz's team is he's either going to fight Tony Ferguson or not fight at all. #UFC279
— Cole Shelton (@ColeShelton91) September 9, 2022
“I talked to someone in Diaz’s camp who said ‘Khamzat fight’s not going to happen.’ They believe Chimaev didn’t even try to make the weight and is basically cheating. The consensus around Diaz’s team is he’s either going to fight Tony Ferguson or not fight at all.”
And based on Chimaev’s lighthearted reaction to the weigh-in on Twitter, that explanation seems to make sense. Shortly after the weigh-in, Chimaev posted a meme on Twitter, joking about his weight.
@darrentill2 It’s his fault 😂 pic.twitter.com/chmZTZ7ctc
— Khamzat Chimaev (@KChimaev) September 9, 2022
It was certainly an odd situation, and the MMA world had plenty to say about it.
Oh my https://t.co/oPH95cgtQL
— Andreas Hale (@AndreasHale) September 9, 2022
Well this is a bizarre way to handle this #UFC279 https://t.co/sliT1WxtkT
— Shaheen Al-Shatti (@shaunalshatti) September 9, 2022
Im so confused right now. https://t.co/hcQAfd2X8x
— Funky (@Benaskren) September 9, 2022
Big yikes. https://t.co/hLdCTsYZSk
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) September 9, 2022
WHAT'S SO FUNNY?!?!?!?! https://t.co/eRQmE5zUui
— Robbie Fox (@RobbieBarstool) September 9, 2022
Instead of fighting tomorrow, maybe Chimaev is going to do a standup set somewhere on the strip? https://t.co/zNEnfOEp0r
— Adam Hill (@AdamHillLVRJ) September 9, 2022
Well, that's one way of handling this situation. #UFC279 https://t.co/uNsBwr8H3r
— Daniel Yanofsky (@DanYanofsky) September 9, 2022
🤦♂️ 🤦♂️ #UFC279 https://t.co/JeiLDZwUnz
— Harry Davies (@harrydavies14) September 9, 2022
The fight likely isn’t going to happen, but everything around the fight was quite entertaining regardless.
