On how UFC 279 was rebuilt in 48 hours with three modified main fights we wrote yesterday. And today, Nate Diaz bled out Tony Ferguson before choking him out, and Khamzat Chimaev didn’t miss a single punch before winning the 12th fight of his career. We talk about it with Aslanbek Badaev, vice-president of the Russian league ASA.
– Let’s imagine that we are in a mixed football zone. I have to say, “What are your impressions?”
– Chimaev, as expected, won quickly. the spaces [в борьбе] his opponent could be found, he himself did not hide it, there was no great intrigue here. Here, the emotional backing is more important: how Khamzat comes out, how he behaves, what kind of anti-hero he becomes for the audience. I think its emotional charge attracts people a lot. It seems to me that today he is the most brilliant and charismatic UFC fighter.
Nate Diaz and especially Tony Ferguson have aged a lot. It was as if the fight was happening in slow motion. There was no nerve, no intrigue, as if they themselves didn’t care who won. And as for the spectator, it is not known here what this fight gives both in terms of history, and in terms of promotion in the audiences, and simply what the winner will get out of it.
– You personally know Khamzat Chimaev, the people who trained with him are in your league, how do you explain why he could not gain weight?
– Before the fight, we did not speak, did not correspond. I myself, like everyone else, have heard his version, and we have no reason to doubt his words that this time he [врачи из комиссии] forced to stop. But in general, there is a dark story around this tournament: first, some kind of fight, because of which the most awaited press conference is canceled. Then they show the video and we see that it is just an emergency situation. All three fights are quickly set up as on command. In the main event, Tony Ferguson loses by submission for the first time in the UFC, but seems happier than his opponent. Khamzat does not weigh in, but stands up and smiles at the weigh-in. All of this suggests that perhaps there was some sort of script all along.
– Kamaru Usman, a former UFC welterweight champion (up to 77 kg) and a rather big guy for his category, visited Grozny not so long ago. Does Khamzat look big in front of him for 77 kg?
– 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 is a tall guy, his body grows, his limbs long, his height of 188 cm, he somehow reminds me of Adlan Amagov, and it was also difficult for him to drive at 77 kg. I think either way he needs to use his 77kg title shot because he’s come a long way there.
– Chimaev won today with a rather beautiful technique – strangulation of D’Ars. We always understood that he had a strong talent in freestyle wrestling, but were you surprised by the quality of his grappling and the access to this movement?
– When he fought here with Beslan Ushukov, Khusein Khaliyev or Abubakar Vagaev, they really had a lot of power struggle, position, net fight, but I don’t remember anyone catching anyone one on stuff. He has long limbs, a hand triangle, D’Ars and an anaconda are easy to make. In addition in a fight, when you give rhythm, it is a little different, people start to make mistakes. Before the Abu Dhabi tournament, my trainer Arbi Muradov, black belt in jiu-jitsu, fought him and said that Khamzat has a good grappling: he gives a constant rhythm to it, and that makes him very dangerous in this aspect .
Q: As Vice President of the ASA, do you imagine your league making an offer to Nate Diaz or Tony Ferguson?
“I don’t think it will be us. We have a certain philosophy, a certain approach, maybe somewhere we move away from them, but there… And the guys have aged, and the price is going to be very high. And it will not match the quality. There will be no profit. Yet it is a sport where athletes fight at the top of their game.
Maybe the RCC will be interested in that, they sometimes bring someone once. We probably wouldn’t waste any money.
– Suppose you send them an offer, how much commission would you expect in return?
– I think it would be from a million dollars. Because we often come across the fact that when we communicate with former UFC fighters, they increase their fees several times. Now I can share an insider – we spoke with Alistair Overeem, and the charge was less than $1 million. He was ready to come and get that money. Yes, they set conditions: a business class flight, a few other details, but the amount was the same.
“It’s hard to get motivated to pay a million to Tony Ferguson, who has lost his last five fights.
– With this money you can sign a dozen or more strong fighters.
– With whom would you like to see the fights of Ferguson and Diaz in Russia, if you put aside the financial aspect?
– They are welterweights of age who have increased to 77 kg because it is difficult for them to drive (weight). It would be interesting for me to see them against our fighters our age: it would be interesting against Vener Galiev. Marat Balaev vs. Tony Ferguson – a good fight?
– It will be a blood transfusion center … Did you understand how Diaz strangled Ferguson, because on one of the rehearsals it seemed that he did it with one hand?
– Diaz has long arms, and they allow him to do a good guillotine, especially since he has a black belt in jiu-jitsu from Cesar Gracie, which he has been practicing for a long time. He took it firmly with his left hand and closed the lock with his right. I was surprised how easily Tony Ferguson gave up. It’s not even that he punched, but how easily he gave his neck. And the passage itself – it was desperation. Cuts, fatigue – that’s it. Also, he kind of slowly, slowly got back to his feet, gave his neck, and there was no evidence that he wanted out of this situation. Although Tony Ferguson is a guy who didn’t have to give up in the UFC.
Can Khabib’s American League faction Eagle FC make an offer to Ferguson or Diaz?
They can do it, it’s in their rules. We’ve seen that they have guys in US tournaments that have a name, but they’re not quite competitive anymore. Although the same Kevin Lee, he cannot be completely written off, he is younger, fresher, he can still perform qualitatively.
Another thing is that Tony, who has long had a confrontation with Khabib, will he go to Eagle FC himself? And Bellator and PFL are unlikely to take it now.
– In terms of quick predictions – what awaits each of the three main participants in this tournament: Diaz, Chimaev, Ferguson.
– With Chimaev, it seemed to me that the ideal scenario would be if he took Diaz out, took the microphone and turned to Dana with a message like: “The former champion will recover from a knockout for a long time. Let’s finish the story of Chimaev vs. Edwards in December and fight for the title (Chimaev vs. Edwards fight, who became the UFC champion, failed several times. – “)”. But since the fight did not take place in the welterweight division and it will not be possible to get him into the trump card in the title race, it is likely that Khamzat will have to take part in the candidate fight. I guess it will be Colby Covington.
—Nate [Диас] — I think he will sign a contract with Bare Knuckle FC. He has long wanted to try his hand at it (fighting with his bare hands), and at the same time he will be able to fight in boxing.
As for Tony Ferguson, he has a name, but the guy ended up being a fighter, and quite abruptly, like a toggle switch had been flipped. Aged, past in many aspects. Dana is unlikely to fire him, considering White treats his captions well, gives them a chance. I think he will be lowered to opposition level, but he will hold out for one or two fights.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
