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Khamzat Chimaev has the chance to knock off a UFC legend forward of him. Now he simply has to be sure that stated legend exhibits up.
The undefeated welterweight, who’s at present No. 3 at 155 kilos in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings, is about to struggle Nate Diaz in the primary occasion of UFC 279 on Sept. 10 at T-Cellular Enviornment in Las Vegas.
Since 2013, Diaz has made simply eight octagon appearances, and his most up-to-date — a unanimous determination loss to Leon Edwards at UFC 263 in June 2021 — was his first struggle in 19 months after a number of fizzled matchups. So one can perceive if Chimaev is skeptical about whether or not the struggle goes to occur.
“I nonetheless don’t imagine that man’s going to come back and present up,” Chimaev stated on The MMA Hour. “That skinny boy. We are going to see what’s occurring. I’m simply ready for the tenth of September – it doesn’t matter who. If he desires to struggle [185 pounds], then we will try this… simply present up. I can struggle [at 185 or 205 pounds], it doesn’t matter.”
Including additional intrigue to the competition is the truth that the UFC 279 headliner marks the final struggle on Diaz’s present contract. The Stockton, Calif., star’s future is unclear, however on a number of events he has asked for the UFC to release him, so it’s distinctly doable that Diaz will quickly finish his 15-year relationship with the promotion.
That narrative doesn’t imply a lot to Chimaev, who plans to method this as he has all of his earlier fights. Nevertheless, he’s amused by the considered placing a dent in Diaz’s notorious persona.
“For me, it doesn’t really matter,” Chimaev stated. “If they offer me Kamaru Usman, I’ll do the identical factor. For me, it doesn’t matter. The man simply fights and fights. He’s nonetheless harmful. He fights to the final second, and I’m blissful he’s combating with me.
“He’s one of many legends, like everybody saying, ‘gangster, gangster.’ I’m going to indicate who’s the gangster. Like I stated earlier than, we’re from Chechnya, we develop up [with] the conflict, and we eat the gangsters for breakfast.”
Chimaev is a heavy favorite heading into the competition, in no small half attributable to his 11-0 report, which incorporates 10 finishes and a current win over prime welterweight contender Gilbert Burns. On paper, Diaz is step again in competitors on condition that he’s received only one struggle since 2016. However Chimaev is trying ahead to share the cage with a fighter he’s lengthy admired.
“When my supervisor advised me it’s accomplished, I stated that’s good, that’s excellent for us,” Chimaev stated. “Generate income, make good names, the man’s going out. Nate stated he doesn’t like me. … I like that man, I grew up on him.
“I used to be at school when he was combating within the UFC. It’s wonderful to struggle that man, and I like him as a result of for me UFC, once I was younger, it was like the films. Like, I’m not going to get there, I’m simply going to see it.
“Now, I struggle with the fellows that I used to be watching. American guys, from Chechnya I watched them. Now, I struggle with them.”
Coming off of the primary determination win of his profession, Chimaev doesn’t anticipate to go the gap when he fights Diaz. That is the primary bout scheduled for 5 rounds of Chimaev’s profession. He plans to do what he normally does and be the fourth fighter to cease Diaz.
“I simply go in and smash his face,” Chimaev stated. “If we do hanging, I knock him out, and if we go down, I submit him or smash his face, make him faucet. We’ll see, no matter, for me it doesn’t matter. I don’t have some recreation plan and that s***. I don’t ask my coaches, I by no means speak about what I’m going to do within the struggle. I simply practice what my coach stated in my coaching. Once we spar, if he says, ‘take him down,’ I take him down, if he says, ‘jab, transfer,’ I do this stuff – I take heed to him.
“Then I am going to the struggle and I do precisely precisely the identical I did within the sparring, and generally it’s take him down, submit him. Then I perceive I’ve to do it within the cage as effectively once I come to the struggle. That is my recreation plan, however you don’t see me, like, ‘Oh, he does this, he does that, he jabs like this, and this s***.’ I don’t imagine in recreation plan or this s***. You struggle such as you struggle.”
“One spherical, two rounds,” Chimaev stated of his prediction on when the struggle will finish. “We’ll see.”
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