Welterweight rival Khamzat Coach Andreas Michael Chimaev said there was no excuse for his fighter dropping 7.5 pounds ahead of his scheduled UFC 279 Main Event against Nate Diaz.
Chimaev’s weight issues forced a change of fight card at 11th hour, prompting Chimaev and five other fighters to accept new opponents as UFC The scramble to save the pay-per-view card after it became clear Diaz (quite rightly) wouldn’t be as big a weight gap as Chimaev.
and talk to Ariel Helwani in the MMA Hour by MMA Fighting On Monday, Michael didn’t have a right Who should be held responsible for this accident.
“He’s been fighting at welterweight his entire career,” Michael said. “This time he lost weight, but he didn’t lose weight all the time. Of course, he’s been having a hard time gaining weight, but he’s been gaining weight. The point is we’re going to make it easier, in There are some fights in the welterweight bout, but we’re also in the welterweight bout.
“We started this camp very heavy,” he added. “That’s the problem. We got an invitation to play Nate Diaz earlier than that in August. Too fast because he is heavy. Then they moved it for 10 days and I believe we just started this camp too heavy. We should be more disciplined and keep our weights at a reasonable level, close to what he’s training and going into training camp. Basically that’s it. “We can find a lot of reasons and excuses and so on. At the end of the day – I don’t No disrespecting Khamzat, he’s a great fighter and I love him – but I’ll say it’s definitely unprofessional from our side not to gain weight. Anyone who doesn’t lose weight is definitely not Professional. I want to apologize to Nate’s camp for this. We should all lose weight and there is no excuse.”
Michael also explained the medical issues Chimayev was having , which prompted doctors to tell him to stop losing weight.
“His muscles cramped and he was shaking,” Michael said. “vomited. When he stood up, he had passed out. I was worried about him.”
Comment
