The scandalous UFC 279 tournament gave the audience a real show. The highlight of the evening of mixed martial arts in Las Vegas was the spectacular victory of the Swedish fighter of Russian origin Khamzat Chimaev, who defeated the tongue-tied Kevin Holland by one wicket.

The American resembled a helpless beginner, never hitting an undefeated Chechen athlete.

Big weight problems

Khamzat Chimaev has not lost a single fight in his career in mixed martial arts. Unsurprisingly, at UFC 279 in Las Vegas, he landed the main welterweight bout against promotion veteran Nate Diaz, who hasn’t been in the cage in over a year.

But even before the start of the tournament in Las Vegas, where the duel was supposed to take place, scandals began to occur. First, the head of the UFC urgently had to cancel a press conference due to a mass brawl, in which, according to some reports, more than 100 people took part.

Initially, the conflict arose between Chimaev and Holland, who had severely bullied Khamzat before, but he was quickly settled. After that, the teams of the Swedish Chechen and Diaz met wall to wall. The security service was completely unprepared for such a development of events. I had to forget about the conversation with journalists.

Photo: © Chris Unger / Contributor / UFC / Gettyimages.com

The next day the tournament was in jeopardy. Chimaev and several other fighters could not meet the limits of their weight categories. Moreover, the Chechen athlete exceeded the upper limit by three kilograms. Diaz, after such a weigh-in, flatly refused to enter the octagon against the Wolf.

The organizers of the event had to urgently process the entire card, but the optimal solution was found. Diaz’s opponents for the main fight of the evening identified another UFC veteran, Tony Ferguson, who was originally supposed to fight Holland. Chimaev, after long negotiations, got Kevin as an opponent.

“I will destroy all the guys in the division!”

According to the results of the negotiation process, the duel between Chimaev and Holland was supposed to consist of five rounds. The side of the American athlete insisted on such a duration. But Khamzat was charged to finish the fight much earlier. After the siren, which announced the beginning of the duel, the Wolf immediately threw himself at Kevin’s feet. The pass attempt ended with a spectacular takedown.

After that, Khamzat completely seized the initiative. First, he struck blows from above, and then captured the opponent’s head in a tight guillotine. Kevin lasted in this predicament for a little over a minute, but still could not stand it and surrendered to the mercy of the winner.

According to official UFC statistics, in two minutes of the fight, Chimaev did not allow his opponent to deliver a single accurate blow. Such a sad end to the fight for drummer Holland was clearly not expected by the fans who came to cheer for their compatriot. Takedowns in the statistics of the American also do not appear.

After the fight, the rivals behaved with dignity, forgetting about past grievances. Khamzat patted Holland on the shoulder in a friendly way, and the American responded to the Chechen fighter in return, not forgetting to prick his opponent in an interview after the fight.

– Chimaev, I hope your cardio is in order, my boy? You are a great fighter. I’m a great drummer. Now let’s find out about your striking technique that you spoke about, – quotes the words of an American MMA Fighting Portal.

Chimaev also, after the victory, was not modest in his statements, answering questions from Joe Rogan.

– So now what? Will you say something now? Destroy all the guys in the division! Give me both fighters from the main fight at once – it will be the same. I was going to make weight, but in the end the doctor stopped me. I’m dying here in a cage, I’ll never leave it – this is my home. Holland win? We practice this every day. Thanks to my team,” Khamzat said after the fight to the disapproving rumble of the public.

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It is too early to say how Chimaev’s career will continue after claims of health problems with weight loss. Perhaps the fighter will have to change the weight category. But after such a convincing victory, there is no doubt that among the middleweights, Khamzat is able to make a splash.