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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.
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).
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):
