Khamzat Chimaev has arrived in Abu Dhabi for UFC 280. Reportedly, he will be at the event to support his teammate Caio Borralho, although some speculate it may be to negotiate his next in the UFC.
Here is a video of Khamzat Chimaev arriving at UFC 280:
Brazil’s ‘The Natural’ Caio Borralho will be taking on Makhmud Muradov in a middleweight showdown. On training with ‘Borz,’, Borralho said, that the Russian-Swedish fighter is like nothing he has ever seen before. He explained:
“The guy trains a lot, man, a lot. Something I’ve never seen.Something like, we do five rounds of sparring, then three rounds of grappling, so everyone is worn out, tired, and he runs another thirty minutes on the treadmill.”
Khamzat Chimaev was booked previously as the UFC 279 main event against the retiring Nate Diaz. ‘The Wolf’ struggled to make the welterweight limit and so the fight was scrapped. Instead, Khamzat Chimaev faced Kevin Holland, earning a submission win in round 1.Chimaev has now earned six consecutive wins in the UFC and has an overall perfect MMA record of 12-0.
‘Borz’s arrival in The United Arab Emirates quells rumors of his passport being seized, as he is clearly able to travel. Some also speculate that Chimaev flew in to negotiate with the UFC for his next bout. On Twitter, journalist Karim Zidan reports:
“Khamzat Chimaev has arrived in the UAE today to negotiate his next fight & attend #UFC280 in Abu Dhabi. This should put to rest the rumour that the UFC star had his passport confiscated and was trapped in Russia.”
Belal Muhammad wants Khamzat Chimaev
Khamzat Chimaev may also be at the UFC 280 event to size up his next opponent. Welterweights Belal Muhammad and Sean Brady will be fighting for a place in the top five in the division. According to ‘Remember the Name’ Muhammad requested a Chimaev fight but instead got Brady.
Muhammad sat down with The Fighter vs. The Writer and explained:
“I’m sitting there like Khamzat is not booked. Why am I not fighting Khamzat? … I was like let me fight Khamzat and they kept just brushing it off. I was like OK, I just beat No. 5 [ranked fighter] in the world, he just beat No. 3 in the world with Gilbert [Burns], this makes the most sense. I thought that was going to happen. The whole time I’m calling for it, I’m hearing he has visa issues, he’s not going to fight. Then you started hearing the rumors about him and Nate Diaz and how does that make any sense?” [Transcript courtesy of MMAFighting]
Instead of Chimaev, Muhammad will face the undefeated US-born fighter Sean Brady at UFC 280. It appears that ‘Borz’ may be forced to move to middleweight due to his large weight miss in his last fight. Although, perhaps Chimaev vs Muhammad is still on the table.
