Dana White has detailed the events which led to the crumbling of the scheduled UFC 279 main event
Khamzat Chimaev (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC) © Getty Images
UFC president Dana White says that medics became concerned for Khamzat Chimaev when his body began ‘locking up’ during of his doomed weight cut ahead of his scheduled UFC 279 main event against Nate Diaz in Las Vegas.
The unbeaten rising star Chimaev was set to take part in what would have been his debut main event fight under the UFC banner but was withdrawn from the bout after he weighed in 7.5lbs over the contracted welterweight limit of 171lbs, prompting a whirlwind of late changes to the advertized fights on the pay-per-view card.
But those changes were necessary, according to White, who said that Chimaev was dealing with health concerns brought on by his efforts to drop the required weight to make the welterweight limit.
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“He was very, very lean already and he should have come in on weight,” White said on Instagram Live as he confirmed the rake of last minute changes to UFC 279.
“He started to cut weight and he started locking up and cramping and all the things that happen from a bad cut.
“Unlike 10 years ago when we were doing this, they call in, we send a doctor up and a doctor determines whether he should keep cutting weight or not and the doctor told him he shouldn’t.”
Chimaev later detailed to ESPN that doctors interrupted his weight cut at 4am and informed him that he was medically not fit to continue. It is unclear why doctors arrived at his hotel room, or if they were called by a member of the UFC staff or Chimaev’s team.
It is the first time that the Chechen-born Chimaev has missed weight in the UFC. He fought his first fight in the middleweight division (185lbs) but has fought three of his five UFC fights in the welterweight fold.
It also isn’t the first time that health issues have impacted Chimaev’s career. He was slated to face current UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards in December 2020 but was forced to withdraw after suffering complications from a Covid-19 diagnosis.
It was reported in the weeks following that Chimaev considered retiring from mixed martial arts due to the ongoing symptoms he was suffering.
Diaz, meanwhile, who made his contracted weight ahead of the scheduled Chimaev fight, will now instead face fellow veteran Tony Ferguson in the hastily arranged new UFC 279 main event, while Chimaev will take on the experienced Kevin Holland in a five round co-main event.
Chimaev and Holland had become involved in a heated backstage confrontation in advance of the pre-fight press conference on Thursday, prompting Dana White to call off the media event.
“Yesterday, there were a lot of questions about what happened,” White added of the antipathy between both fighters. “Kevin Holland and Khamzat Chimaev actually got into it yesterday backstage. Ironically, now they will fight on Saturday night.”
