LAS VEGAS – Nick Maximov is just getting started in the UFC, but he’s down to fight one of the big dogs of his division.
The unbeaten UFC middleweight is interested in fighting top welterweight contender Khamzat Chimaev, who also competes at 185 pounds, despite not being in the rankings himself. Maximov’s first comments on Chimaev came up in December 2021 when his teammate, Nate Diaz, was doing an interview with TMZ.
At the time, Diaz was being asked about a potential fight with Chimaev, to which he pointed at Maximov (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) and said Chimaev could fight his teammate instead. Maximov, who wasn’t part of the interview, seemed to be caught off guard and only replied “yeah.”
Although at the time he seemed unenthusiastic by the idea, Maximov is all in on a Chimaev fight now.
“I’m down to fight Khamzat. I’m for real about that,”Maximov said Wednesday at UFC on ESPN 36 media day. “I think they just caught me … Nate was still talking, and I was just looking at him and for some reason the camera just pointed at me, and I was like, ‘What the f*ck.’ But it happens, I guess.
“But I’m down to fight that fool. I don’t know why everyone is tripping so hard. I mean, he’s a good fighter, (but) everyone in the UFC is good, though. I’m down with it.”
A fight between Diaz and Chimaev could be on the table after photos leaked of the promotion’s matchmaking room last week with the matchup posted on the board.
Maximov returns Saturday at UFC on ESPN 36 for his third promotional outing. He takes on Andre Petroski in a middleweight bout. The 24-year-old expects to notch his first stoppage in the UFC.
“I think it’s a finish,” Maximov said. “I think it’s a UFC fighter vs. a regional fighter. He was trying to dog the people that I fought, and all of them have winning records, and the two dudes he’s fought in the UFC aren’t even here no more.
“And before that, he was still fighting people with negative records and losing to people with negative records. So I’m like, ‘ How are you trying to diss me when I’m fighting the top prospects?’ I just think he’s kind of delusional, and I think it’s going to show.”
Nate Diaz teammate Nick Maximov wants a piece of Khamzat Chimaev: ‘I’m down to fight that fool’
