Dana White addressed Khamzat Chimaev’s brutal weight miss during Saturday’s UFC 279 post-fight press conference.
Chimaev (12-0 MMA) was supposed to headline last night’s pay-per-view event opposite Nate Diaz (21-13 MMA) in a welterweight contest. However, ‘Borz’ brutally missed the divisional weight limit by 7.5lbs, which forced the promotion to shuffle the lineup.
Khamzat wound up getting booked against Kevin Holland in a 180lbs matchup, which served as the evening’s new co-main event. ‘The Wolf’ made quick work of ‘Trailblazer last night, submitting Holland with a D’arce choke in the very first round.
Despite his dominant performance, Khamzat Chimaev was still public enemy number one yesterday at T-Mobile Arena. Fans showered the undefeated fighter with boos both before and after the matchup.
While ‘Borz’ was quick to dismiss his weight miss, blaming doctors for shutting him down, UFC President Dana White was singing a different tune.
“Yeah, it’s a problem, it’s a problem that he missed weight,” White told reporters at the UFC 279 post-fight press conference (h/t MMAJunkie). “We have to look at it and figure it out, but what makes sense is for him to fight at (185). So we’ll see.”
Dana White continued:
“No, (I haven’t talked to Khamzat yet). I mean, what should I talk to him about? You should be sorry? Get smaller? It is what it is. It happened and yeah, we’ll go back this week, come up with a plan, and like I just told Kevin (reporter), have him fight at (185).”
Chimaev previously expressed his desire to face the winner of November’s UFC 281 main event between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira. Whether Dana White and company will be willing to entertain that idea following UFC 279 remains to be seen.
Who do you want to see Khamzat Chimaev fight next?