Chimaev allegedly made $1 million for UFC 279, offered Diaz $2 million to ignore missed weight

Syed Ali Fazeel

Khamzat Chimaev is one of the biggest rising stars in the UFC. After a high-profile bout with Gilbert Burns, Khamzat got his big money matchup when he was booked to face Nate Diaz at UFC 279. However, the bout was scrapped due to his inability to make weight.

Instead, he faced Kevin Holland in a catchweight bout. Khamzat was successful as he ran through Holland, defeating him in the first round. Now, months after his previous outing, Khamzat just accused Nate Diaz of ducking him.

Khamzat said that while he wasn’t able to make weight, he offered Diaz a lot of money to face him at catchweight. He said that Diaz wasn’t interested and that the bad weight cut was a perfect excuse for him to back out of the bout.

Khamzat said in an interview, that Diaz just “likes to talk,”

He said that he “offered everything to Diaz, all [his] money to make it happen,”

Khamzat said that his friend and Chechnyan dictator, Ramzan Kadyrov, called him to pay Diaz even more money.

“Then, Ramzan Akhmatovich called me and said that he was ready to pay Diaz even 2 million dollars if he wants,”

However, Diaz still refused and Khamzat said that he just wanted a way out.

“I told Nate that he called and offered more money, but he refused.”

“He didn’t want to fight me in the first place. He just found a way to get out. Then they told us that Diaz won’t fight.”

After this, Khamzat agreed to take on Kevin Holland at catchweight – 180 pounds.

Diaz’s representative, Zach Rosenfield, responded to Khamzat’s comments.

He called him a liar and that he was just making up a “fairy tale”. He also called ‘Borz’ out for not disclosing the amount that he was supposed to make for the scrap.

“It is fan fiction for Khamzat. Just lacks a shred of truth, including what he was supposed to make.”

The rep said that Khamzat never contacted Nate and mocked him.

“At what point in Khamzat’s fairy tale did he ask Nate? When he tapped out of his weight cut in 2am? When he was being held in isolation at the UFC PI so the story wouldn’t get out.”

He called Khamzat unprofessional and said that Diaz made a lot more money in his outing against Tony Ferguson.

“The only millions that were negotiated on that Friday were the millions more that we got for fighting Tony after Khamzat was not professional enough to show up for the fight we asked for.”