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Khamzat Chimaev is set to make his comeback to the octagon in a middleweight showdown against Paulo Costa at UFC 294 on October 21. The highly anticipated event will take place at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
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The undefeated welterweight star faced significant criticism ahead of his UFC 279 main event against Nate Diaz last year. He missed weight by a substantial 8.5 pounds, leading UFC president Dana White to change his opponent.
As a consequence, Khamzat Chimaev's fight was downgraded to a co-main event bout against Kevin Holland. Following the fight, White considered moving him up to the middleweight division (185 pounds).
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However, 'Borz' recently shared that White was actually content with the fact that he did not end up fighting Nate Diaz. As per a recent report from Red Corner MMA on Twitter, Chimaev stated:
"Dana White told me he was happy I didn't fight Nate Diaz. And it'd be a bad look for the organization [UFC]. He said Nate got old and was not the fighter he used to be."
Check out the tweet below:
Henry Cejudo feels Paulo Costa's wrestling improvements will give Khamzat Chimaev a tough fight
Former UFC bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo has voiced his reservations about Khamzat Chimaev's transition to the middleweight division, especially when going up against a physically dominant fighter like Paulo Costa.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Cejudo stated:
"I love this matchup. I mean I think this matchup is going to be the next person that more like is probably gonna get the title fight at 185 pounds. Khamzat Chimaev, a guy with tenacity, a guy that loves to grapple, a guy that loves to throw hands. He is going up to middleweight against a real middleweight, a big middleweight. The biggest challenge that somebody like Chimaev is going to have a guy like Paulo is could he take this dude down. Could he take this dude and could he actually hold him down?”
Check out Cejudo's comments below (from 1:22):
