"Considering what you caused - the hassle, the stress, the expense" - Michael Bisping explains why Khamzat Chimaev desperately needed to live up to the hype at UFC 279
Michael Bisping believes it was imperative for Khamzat Chimaev to put on an impressive display against Kevin Holland at UFC 279. 'Borz' lived up to his hype, ragdolling Holland from the initial seconds, en route to a first-round submission finish.
Bisping believes that Chimaev absolutely needed to perform the way that he did considering the raucous he caused leading up to the UFC 279 card. 'Borz' initially had an altercation with Holland backstage that snowballed into the cancelation of the pre-fight presser. He then missed weight by 7.5 lbs, which led to the resuffling of almost the entire card.
However, Bisping believes that the Chechen-born Swede contender has made up for his shortcomings with his dominant win over 'The Trailblazer'. The former middleweight champion said on his YouTube channel:
"Chimaev needed that kind of performance. He caused the press conference to be canceled, he didn't make weight, the entire got a shake up in terms of who they were fighting. And that was all down to Chimaev, right?! And if you go out there and you lose or you go out there and have a boring fight or you just scrape by a decision, it's not the best look. Certainly consdering what you caused - the hassle, the stress, the expense, all of that. But it doesn't matter. That is eradicated cause he went out there and he destroyed Kevin Holland."
Watch Bisping's YouTube video below:
"We’ll go back and do it over again" - Khamzat Chimaev responds to fake glove touch accusations
Khamzat Chimaev seemingly started losing favor with fans during his eventful week leading up to UFC 279. The Chechen-born Swede worsened things from himself by flipping off the crowd after missing weight by a huge margin.
Even Chimaev's dominant win over Kevin Holland was not devoid of controversy. 'Borz' seemingly ignored a glove touch from 'The Trailblazer' and immediately shot for a takedown. The 29-year-old was accused of doing a fake glove touch before changing levels for the takedown.
Khamzat Chimaev doing the fake glove touch is so dirty #ufc279 #ufc #mma https://t.co/204qrNlzWP
However, Chimaev himself seemed surprised when confronted with the accusations. Offering to run ity back against Holland, 'Borz' said at the post-fight presser:
“I want to take off his head, I’m gonna watch his hands? I was watching his head. I don’t know, always people find some funny things to say. They want to go back, we’ll go back and do it over again.”
Watch Khamzat Chimaev's appearance at the post-fight presser below: