Getty Khamzat Chimaev during UFC 273.
Khamzat Chimaev put UFC 279 at risk after coming in overweight for his headlining bout against Nate Diaz.
They had inked a contract to show up at 170 pounds and got an extra pound’s allowance for the nontitle welterweight contest. Chimaev tipped the scales at 178.5 pounds, a massive seven and a half over the agreement. Former rival Kevin Holland, originally on the card for a catchweight bout against Daniel Rodriguez at 180 pounds, stepped up to the task of facing “Borz” inside the octagon on a day’s notice.
Chimaev dominated Holland from the start and finished him in the opening round without absorbing any significant strikes for the fourth time in his UFC career.
As good as his performance was, there were concerns over his future in the division. Not many details were provided by either the promotion or the Chechen-born Swede, leaving the fans puzzled at why he failed to make weight for the first time as a professional.
Coach Admits Food Is Chimaev’s Weakness
In an interview with Brett Okamoto of ESPN, his head coach Michael Andreas, of Allstars Training Center, admitted that food was Chimaev’s weakness.
“Look, I’m not going to lie to you,” Michael said. “Of course, he needs to be more disciplined with his food. That’s his Achilles heel. Everyone has a weakness, don’t they? Some people don’t like training hard, some people don’t like to spar, some people only like to hit the pads only and feel good about that like, ‘oh I’m the best at pads.’ Some people like to do only cardio.”
Michael recommended that Chimaev find the balance between getting enough rest and eating an appropriate level of food.
“Everyone has a weakness, and his weakness is that he trains hard, and to train hard, you need to eat and rest. His problem is that he needs to rest a little bit more and he needs to eat a little bit less.”
He Theorized That Chimaev Demanded More Fuel for Training
Coach Michael believes that the intensity of Chimaev’s training requires him to eat a significant amount of food. Without proper nutrition, “Borz” could not operate at his max capabilities. Michael theorized that Chimaev’s competitive nature caused him to eat more so that he does well even in practice.
“But with that workload,” Michael added. “It’s difficult to eat less because he’s a competitive guy. He wants to win in his training, he wants to do good, he wants to break records, he wants to win in sparring, you heard the stories, you’ve seen how we train. It’s not for the faint of heart as they say. With that, he needs energy because he doesn’t like to lose.
“He eats. That’s why we brought someone who would cook the food, make it, and serve it to him but in all honesty, you need a good amount of food to be delivered in the sessions. The guys were trying. First when they came in they minimized his food and everything and the training wasn’t that good so he said, ‘I need more food to produce a good performance in training.’”