“Khamzat said he could be 74 kg” – ASA Vice President Aslanbek Badaev

Aslanbek Badaev, vice-president of the Russian promotion ASA, commented for on the difficulties he encountered Khamzat Chimaev while preparing for the official weigh-in ahead of UFC 279.

A native of Chechnya, Chimaev was expected to meet American Nate Diaz in the main event of the Las Vegas tournament, but did not reach the welterweight limit (77.1kg), posting 80.9kg on the scale. The 28-year-old fighter (12 wins, 0 losses) broke the 3.9kg limit after a doctor, according to Chimaev, banned him from continuing to lose weight.

– Khamzat is large for 77 kg. The weight races will be tough for him, and tougher from fight to fight. It is said that in Abu Dhabi, Albert Duraev literally forced him to lose weight while the last grams were struggling to leave. In the fight with Burns, it was not easy for him to respect the limit. Maybe it makes sense for him to go to 84kg and not torture himself with a weight run, on the other hand, if he’s getting in the weight…if he’s posting those numbers… (Chimaev has done 77kg three times, speaking to UFC. – “”).

Did you talk about it with him?

– We talked about it when he was still playing in Brave. Then he said that he was 77 kg without any problem, in addition there was a category up to 74 kg, and he said that he would like to become champion in three weight categories, including this weight. At that time there were no problems. But he’s a big guy, his body is growing, his limbs are long, he’s 188cm tall, I think either way he has to use his 77kg title shot, because a long way has been done there- down.

In the UFC, Chimaev had six fights, twice in middleweight fights (up to 84 kg). At the moment, the fighter occupies the third line of the ranking of the welterweight division (77 kg).