"You won't come back and ever make that weight again" - Henry Cejudo gives grim prediction for Khamzat Chimaev's future
Khamzat Chimaev's recent fight at UFC 279 against Kevin Holland was never meant to be. His original main event fight against Nate Diaz never materialized as Chimaev could not make weight by a significant margin of seven-and-a-half pounds.
His failure on the scales was the cause of much debate and an entire card reshuffle that saw three fights being altered. Former UFC champion Henry Cejudo recently weighed in on the issue.
Cejudo spoke to Helen Yee in an interview and warned Chimaev:
"You won't come back, if you don't get your s*** together, you won't come back and ever make that weight again. Trust me, even if you have big balls, you won't make it because when you're off that much, just imagine him at 170. He's struggling to probably make 178. Like you know, he gave everything he had. His coach said his tongue was white, vomiting all that other stuff, throwing up fluid."
'Triple C' then mentioned having been through similar circumstances during his career and offered advice:
"I've been there before. He's gonna have to really tweak his training. He's probably training too much and probably allowing more of his metabolism to eat more and there's a way of doing it, where you can still make weight, still feel good while you're not overworking your body."
Watch Henry Cejudo's full comments on Helen Yee Sports:
Khamzat Chimaev signals intent to compete across two divisions
A possible solution to Khamzat Chimaev's weight-cutting problem could be a move up to the middleweight division, where it would be far easier for the current No.3-ranked welterweight contender to cut weight.
While this notion has been echoed since 'Borz' exploded onto the scene and won his first few fights in spectacular fashion, it has only gathered further steam with his recent fiasco.
Joe Rogan questioned him in the aftermath of his fight with Kevin Holland on whether he intended to stay on at welterweight or move up a weight class. Khamzat Chimaev responded firmly in favor of juggling both:
"I going for both weight class. Joe, we take the both belts and go up you know. I kick the guys, some of the guys in the camp. I ready now. I spar with those guys, I broke them in the sparring. Gotta go now as well."
Catch Khamzat Chimaev's complete octagon interview with Joe Rogan: