UFC middleweight Sean Strickland has joined the camp of those who think Khamzat Chimaev’s most recent weight loss was “staged.”
He’s in fine company with several other longtime eccentric martial artists. That same sentiment was expressed by Tony Ferguson, Pat Miletich and Brendan Schaub.
Chimaev was slated to be the main event inside the Octagon at UFC 279 this past weekend for the first time in his career. He was slated to share the limelight again an MMA icon that is Nate Diaz.
However, it was soon apparent that things were not going according to plan. On weigh-in day. Chimaev was 7.5 pounds overweight.
Chimaev was relegated to a co-main event against Kevin Holland as a result of the significant weight miss.
Many people have questioned if the last-minute changes were as abrupt and unplanned as they seemed. Some have even suggested that the UFC was compelled to make the changes due to poor PPV sales.
Prior to the event many UFC insiders slammed the lineup. Both Ferguson vs Li Jingliang and Daniel Rodriguez vs Kevin Holland were late day additions to the card.
Sean Strickland, the seventh-ranked middleweight contender, recently spoke with Helen Yee about the action-packed UFC 279 media week. This also saw Chimaev and Paulo Costa nearly collide at the Performance Institute, which resulted in the cancellation of Thursday’s press conference due to an incident backstage.
Strickland is used to offering opinions. When questioned about the Chechen-born Swede’s weight, he said that everything seemed to be staged.
“I mean, was it staged? The unknown. It looked like it was staged to me,” Strickland said.
“I just think it was ironic that you take the one guy who goes to welterweight, and that he’s known for not wrestling — Kevin Holland is known not to know how to f*cking wrestle — and next thing you know, you give him the guy known for wrestling. How the f*ck does that work?”
After a few minor scuffles, Holland submitted to a D’Arce choke against Chimaev. The card adjustments undoubtedly went against Holland, who was first supposed to take on Daniel Rodriguez.
Strickland’s thoughts mirror those of Pat Miletich.