UFC 279 is set up to be Khamzat Chimaev’s big coming out party. The UFC has put him up against one of their biggest stars in Nate Diaz, and it’s a match-up seemingly designed to make Chimaev look like a monster. He’s much bigger than Diaz, he’s top ranked while Diaz is unranked, and Chimaev has a history of smeshing lesser opponents in minutes without taking any damage whatsoever.
Nate Diaz is a +700 dog to Chimaev’s -1100 favorite, with everyone underestimating Diaz’s ability to win. So it wouldn’t be much of a surprise to hear Chimaev is doing the same. He’s certainly talking like he expects to walk through the Stockton fighter, whose record holds more than his fair share of major upsets.
In a recent YouTube video breaking down UFC 279, former middleweight champion turned commentator Michael Bisping suggested ‘Borz’ may be paying attention to everything but his opponent.
“That’s just like the cockiness and the ability of this man,” Bisping said (via Sportskeeda). “I mean, it really is something to behold. It is incredible. Though, is he a little bit distracted? We don’t know because we see him getting into fights with Paulo Costa at the [UFC] Performance Institute. He’s calling out everyone. And Dana White loves that. Dana loves talented fighters who are cocky, who are arrogant, that want to fight everybody.”
This video was clearly recorded and uploaded before Chimaev also got into a physical altercation with Kevin Holland backstage at the UFC 279 press conference. That led to an even bigger brawl when Nate Diaz turned up, forcing UFC president Dana White to pull the plug on the whole event before someone got hurt.
The fact that Chimaev was willing to put his fight against Nate Diaz in jeopardy to attack Kevin Holland at the UFC 279 press conference is just another sign that he doesn’t have his eye on the ball like he should. He’s already acting like the ‘Borz’ who brawled with Gilbert Burns at UFC 273, despite his coach screaming at him to control himself. Someone could have gotten injured. Both men could have been suspended by the Nevada athletic commission. It’s only through the grace the UFC has built up with the NSAC that action wasn’t taken.
A little distraction isn’t too much for the 11-0 Khamzat Chimaev to deal with in the cage against Nate Diaz. But he has to make it to the cage first if he wants to get the win, the paycheck, and the star rub the UFC has so kindly set up for him.