Real gangbusters fill weight, other UFC fighters react to Khamzat Chimaev’s failure to meet weight limit

Khamzat Chimaev was a rising star in the UFC, but he lost a lot of fans after Crazy Friday. How are the UFC elite reacting to his weight cut?

UFC 279 made history before it even started

Even a day before the next numbered UFC 279, it’s already known that this tournament will go down in the organization’s history in very bold letters. After cancelling the press conference due to a mass brawl backstage, the organization had another issue to deal with.

That’s because at the official weigh-ins, tournament headliner Khamzat Chimaev capped off his failed week by missing the Welterweight weight limit by a whopping 3.89 kg. It added another wrinkle to UFC owner Dana White’s forehead.

The organization had to improvise quickly, and it must be said that they handled the difficult task admirably. It reshuffled the fights in a way that, even with the aforementioned events, perhaps generated more excitement among fans than the card originally cast.

How are other UFC fighters reacting to Chimaev’s failure to make weight?

White has promoted Chimaev virtually since entering the world’s top league as the future ruler of the organization. Moreover, the Swede has been out in front of the media as an exemplary professional who spends his days in the gym. But now he’s pitted many against each other. How have other UFC fighters reacted?

According to MMA Fighting, Chimaev’s current opponent Kevin Holland did not argue with Chimaev. It was the American fighter who teased the Chechnya native by claiming he was only playing gangster for the cameras.

“All these guys say they’re gangsters, but they’re not gangsters,” Holland said. ” They just wear make-up for the HD cameras, it’s that simple,” he added of his new rival.

His previous opponent, veteran Gerald Meerschaert, echoed a similar sentiment. “Real gangsters meet weight,” the fighter who fell to Khamzat after the first punch of the fight wrote on his social networks.

“Failing to make weight is not the sign of a gangster, ” Chito Vera alluded to Khimaev’s words. The latter, in fact, referred to himself as the UFC’s biggest gangster before his fight with Nate Diaz.

“Dana White was going to run with Diaz, but Chimaev was a double agent and ended up running with White,” wrote the famous provocateur Jake Paul in his distinctive style. He often takes shots at Dana White and even now he didn’t miss the opportunity to take a dig at the UFC boss. “Interesting irony, ” he added.

“Chimaev, the piss s**t, was just scared of me, ” said his original opponent Nate Diaz. “You know how it is, the real gangsters come from California, America,” he concluded.

Did Chimaev apologize?

And how did the actor himself handle the situation? “They just stopped me, I wanted to crash, but then some doctors came and stopped it,” he explained his shame to the boos of the fans present.

“This is Chechnya, you s**t, I’m going to finish your boy just like I finished him backstage,” he shouted to the booing crowd. “I’m going to roll over everybody, I don’t care who you put in front of me, I’m going for everybody,” he said firmly.

Source: MMA Fighting, UFC