For someone who missed weight by a considerable amount, Khamzat
Chimaev wasn’t exactly remorseful following his victory over
Kevin
Holland at UFC
279.
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Chimaev was initially supposed to face Nate Diaz in
Saturday’s headliner, but the card was restructured when “Borz”
tipped the scales at 178.5 pounds on Friday. As a result, the
Allstars Training Center product was booked against Holland in a
180-pound catchweight clash.
While Chimaev claimed the he could have made weight but was advised
by doctors to stop his cut, he also didn’t seem to think it
mattered all that much. That ultimately led to fans at T-Mobile
arena showering Chimaev with boos, which also didn’t seem to bother
him.
“You care about that s—t? I don’t care,” Chimaev said at Saturday’s
post-fight press confernece. I care about my family, I care about
my family, I care about my career, I care about my money… One day
they’re with me, one day they’re not with me.”
In his post-fight interview, Chimaev said he plans to continue
competing at both welterweight and middleweight. At the press
conference, he didn’t seem to be worried about making 170 pounds in
the future — but it all depends on the direction of his coach.
“I did that before,” he said. “Why not? I don’t know, I said to
you, I’m going to go back and listen to my coach. If he says 170,
we do 170, if he says heavyweight, we do heavyweight.”
While Chimaev overwhelmed Holland en route to a brabo choke
submission victory at the 2:13 mark of Round 1, he claimed the
outcome would have been for worse for Diaz, who prevailed against
Tony
Ferguson in the new UFC 279 main event.
“Kevin
Holland, tough guy, stronger guy, much better than Diaz,”
Chimaev saidd. “If Diaz and him were fighting, Holland would kill
him. I finished that guy, so easy, first round.
“So yeah, Diaz has to thank God he didn’t fight me.”
He also wasn’t impressed by the performances of Diaz and Ferguson
in the main event.
“Did you see how they kicked, how they punched, how they wrestled,
how they grappled? These guys are old,” Chimaev said. “I’m young,
I’m the killer.”
As far as the state of the welterweight division, Chimaev seems to
believe he’s near the top of the list of contenders despite his
transgression on the scale.
“Who are they going to give it to? Who is next there? Everyone
loses the fight,” he said. “Colby [Covington] loses two or thre
fights in a row. [Jorge] Masvidal loses, when was his last win?
Against Diaz. Did you see Diaz fight? So terrible.”