No. 3 ranked UFC welterweight contender Khamzat Chimaev is having problems finding an opponent for his next fight and says nobody wants to fight him.
Chimaev is willing to accept fights in either the welterweight or middleweight divisions. However, he failed to make weight for his scheduled welterweight match against Nate Diaz at UFC 279 in September forcing a last-minute shakeup of the main card.
After failing to make weight, Diaz instead for Tony Ferguson in the main event while Chimaev faced Kevin Holland in a catchweight bout. Holland was originally slated to take on Daniel Rodriguez. Instead, Rodriguez was pitted against Ferguson’s original opponent Li Jingliang.
Despite missing weight in his last outing and causing a reshuffling of the fight card, Chimaev believes he’s next in line for a title shot in the 170-pound weight class. He’d also like to compete for the middleweight crown.
“Nobody wants to fight,” Chimaev said on his YouTube channel. “They gave me four different countries, four different opponents. Nobody wants to fight.”
“I’m going to fight somebody. I don’t know whom. They change the opponents all the time. Every week I have a new opponent,” Chimaev continued. “But nobody wants to fight. The guys trash talk and say a lot of sh*t about me. ‘I want to fight you. I want to fight you,’ but when it comes to the fight and signing the contract everyone runs away.”
Chimaev would like to fight again in Las Vegas in March at UFC 285, but doesn’t know if the fight promotion can find an opponent for that date.
“It doesn’t matter (if I face a welterweight a middleweight). Just need some opponent,” he said. “I’m next for the title. Who are these guys going to fight? Alex Pereira, he has a 6-1 record. I’ve never lost in my life, and he lost against a sh*t guy. The guy’s not in the UFC as well. UFC don’t want it. The guy don’t want it.”
“I just want to fight. Give me somebody. If the guys run away from me, just give me somebody. I’m ready.”
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Khamzat Chimaev: ‘Nobody wants to fight me’