Khamzat Chimaev has been told he "disrespected" MMA by missing weight for his cancelled fight with Nate Diaz at UFC 279.
Chimaev was supposed to serve as the opponent for Diaz's final UFC fight last weekend, but their main event clash was scrapped after he weighed in 7.5lb over the welterweight limit. Chimaev went on to tap out Kevin Holland inside two minutes in their catchweight fight, whilst Diaz exited the UFC on top by submitting Tony Ferguson.
UFC doctors stopped Chimaev's weight cut because of health concerns after he was vomiting and passing out whilst trying to make the 171lb limit. Now-retired UFC legend Georges St-Pierre thinks Chimaev's weight miss was disrespectful and believes it could affect his chances of fighting for a title in the future.
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“He needs to make weight,” St-Pierre told The Schmo. “When you miss weight it’s a big disrespect not only to your opponent but to the sport. We don’t know what happened. Maybe there’s a medical reason or something, so when you don’t know, you don’t know. But in the future if he misses weight another time, maybe that will prevent him from having a title shot."
Chimaev's coach, Andreas Michael, has admitted the fighter has struggled to make the 170lb limit even more since battling coronavirus two years ago. Chimaev didn't rule out a move up to middleweight after his UFC 279 weight fiasco, having previously fought at 185lb in the UFC when he knocked out Gerald Meerschaert in 17-seconds.
“Maybe give him [Chimaev] the chance to go back at 170lb if he wants to, but he can’t miss weight," St-Pierre added. "Missing weight, it’s hard to forgive. As a fan, I would like to see Kamaru Usman get revenge [for the next title fight] because if anyone deserves it, it’s him. Maybe perhaps Chimaev has a shot against the winner of this fight [with Leon Edwards].”
Chimaev's excuse for missing weight was brought into question by veteran referee John McCarthy, who said on the Weighing In podcast. "That's a bunch of bulls***. I know the doctor that they're talking about. I'm not going to sit here and say his name, but he works for the UFC and is a great guy. Of course he's going to sit there and say, 'Hey, stop!' because he knows Chimaev is dehydrated already. What does a doctor say? No, keep on going until you possibly make the weight or you possibly end up in the hospital?"
