Khamzat Chimaev and Nate Diaz were scheduled to compete in the main event of UFC 279. After Chimaev missed weight, the whole event had to be reshuffled.
Brendan Schaub, a former UFC heavyweight and current MMA commentator, has presented a conspiracy theory behind the promotion’s last-minute decision to modify the event.
Schaub said:
“(Aspen Ladd) keep missing weight, it’s frowned upon usually, unless you’re Khamzat. It just adds to my theory… and Dana came out in the thing and said ‘anyone who thinks Khamzat had a bad week is out of their mind, he had a great week’.”
“I want you guys to go back and look and see if a fighter has missed weight and Dana has given any of them praise, ever in the history of a fighter missing weight… That’s like JFK getting shot and the CIA being like ‘I mean it happens all the time, it’s not a big deal’… Oh, you’re in on it.”
Schaub added as he continued:
“I’m not dying on this hill that it was a conspiracy. I definitely think there’s something to it. If you go back over time when you talk about the commission, they would never let a guy over ten pounds fight. If these hiccups weren’t there, that he [Dana White] has to explain why it wasn’t a conspiracy – the problem is that there’s multiple, multiple lies.”
While Schaub is usually pretty ill informed about UFC matters there are interesting things about this particular conspiracy that lend it credence. White was very very affirmative when he spoke about Chimaev after the UFC 279 debacle.
White also insisted on a 1 on 1 conversation with Chimaev after the event and had kicked out his entire coaching staff and entourage from the locker room.
Schaub also had verbal exchanges with UFC President Dana White on his hypothesis about the Khamzat Chimaev UFC 279 fiasco.
Miletich’s theory questions whether a longtime wrestler out of a draconic territory such as Chechenya would miss weight by 7.5 lbs by accident.
“I’m pretty sure the card was not selling well on pay-per-view. And they told him, ‘Miss weight big so we can put you against Holland. Because this thing is not selling. We gotta shake things and cause a scene”
White dismissed Schaub and UFC vet Pat Miletich who first came up with the idea.
“Like Pat Miletich was saying, we told Khamzat not to make weight because we weren’t selling tickets. The f***ing show was sold out going into that day of the weigh-ins. I don’t know if Pat really said that, but if he did, he has to be the dumbest m*therf***** on the planet.”
“I mean, you know how stupid you have to be to even think something like that, let alone say it publicly and act like you’re serious… If Pat really said that, holy s**t! We might well have to send him out to the brain clinic to get him f***ing checked out.”
Although it is unknown whether they will face off in the octagon, Chimaev’s coach has said that his next matchup will probably be at middleweight.
