Seeing what Khamzat Chimaev did to Kevin Holland at UFC 279, Dana White now thinks Nate Diaz fight may have only gone worse.
Chimaev (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) was initially scheduled to face Diaz (21-13 MMA, 16-11 UFC) in the main event of Sept. 10 pay-per-view card in Las Vegas. After coming in 7.5 pounds over the welterweight limit, the card was shuffled and Chimaev drew Holland instead in a 180-pound catchweight bout.
It took Chimaev less than half a round to drag Holland (23-8 MMA, 10-5 UFC) down to the mat and choke him out, which impressed the UFC president White.
“After you watch the fight, you realize Khamzat vs. Nate Diaz would have been f*cking – that wouldn’t have been good,” White said on “The Action Junkeez Podcast.” “Khamzat, I know the fans got pissed at him for not making weight and everything else, but Jesus f*cking Christ. What he went out and did to Kevin Holland – did you see Kevin Holland post the picture the other day that his eyes were all red from the f*cking choke? I mean, holy sh*t.”
After the overhaul to the card, Diaz faced off against Tony Ferguson in the night’s headliner at T-Mobile Arena, and tapped out “El Cucuy” in Round 4 in the final fight of his UFC contract.
Although Chimaev was a heavy favorite against Holland, White didn’t expect him to tear through Holland in such quick and dominant fashion – and he won’t believe anyone who says they did.
“I love Kevin Iole,” White said. “Kevin was at the press conference and he was like, ‘Yeah, that’s what I expected,’ No you f*cking didn’t. And if you expected, if you really are honest in saying that you expected Khamzat to f*cking destroy Kevin Holland – you’re lying. There’s just no way. Kevin Holland is a bad motherf*cker.”
