Khamzat Chimaev's manager calls out 'top 10' UFC Welterweight who turned down fight
Khamzat Chimaev has been calling out a number of people on Twitter for a fight. The up and coming Welterweight has surprised everyone with his upward trajectory in the company.
Not only did Khamzat Chimaev secure three back-to-back wins upon his debut, but he did so in just three months.
Among the people he had called out was #5 Welterweight Stephen Thompson. 'Wonderboy' turned it down, saying that it did not make sense for a top contender like him to fight someone new like Khamzat Chimaev.
Ali Abdelaziz likely takes a dig at Stephen Thompson
Chimaev's manager Ali Abdelaziz, who most notably represents Khabib Nurmagomedov, tweeted a sharp jab at Stephen Thompson for not taking the fight.
Thompson's name was not there on the post, but it was somewhat evident from the message whom Ali Abdelaziz meant.
He wrote:
"I just listen to a fighter i’m not gonna mention his name In top 10 saying @KChimaev doesn’t have experience question why are you turn him down we’re going to stay humble for now"
Stephen Thompson calls news of fighting Khamzat Chimaev as 'fake'
Khamzat Chimaev debuted on July 15 against John Phillips and submitted him in the second round. Ten days later, he was back in the Octagon to face Rhys McKee and then two months later, to face Gerald Meerschaert. The last two were finishes via knockout.
Soon, Khamzat Chimaev ran out of opponents because he went through his potential rivals in all but three months. Chimaev took to Twitter to call out the likes of Nate Diaz, Stephen Thomson, and even Israel Adesanya.
None of the top-ranked fighters accepted, and understandably so, because they were all aiming at the title and a fight with a then-unranked Khamzat Chimaev would have helped no one.
Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson also had the same reason for not taking the fight with Khamzat Chimaev. He addressed the topic on Submission Radio where he said he was never offered the fight officially.
"There was a lot of fake news of him fighting me, and I was like, I don't even know who this guy is. At the time I wasn't watching a whole lot of UFC."
“UFC was mentioning, ‘hey, why not fight Stephen?’ And so, nothing. Nothing like for sure. It wasn’t like, hey, Stephen you want to fight this guy?"
"I don't know if it was Khamzat, or maybe Khamzat's manager Ali (Abdelaziz) who just kind of threw that fake news out there. Sometimes, he's been known to kind of do that."
Dana White recently confirmed on the Jim Rome Show that Khamzat Chimaev has earned himself a fight with Leon Edwards and that he can "stop calling everybody out on Twitter now".
The fight is scheduled to happen on the December 19 card.