It was an apparent case of mistaken identification at Tuesday’s DWCS Press Conference after Dana White, UFC President, bragged about a UFC 279 conspiracy.
White claimed that the UFC orchestrated the headliner shuffle. He was a former UFC Welterweight champion. Although he admitted that he didn’t verify his sources, a UFC welterweight champ Pat Miletich blasted White for the idea.
“I heard this thing today, and I don’t know how true it is — Pat Miletich was saying we told Khamzat [Chimaev] not to make weight because we weren’t selling tickets. The tickets for the f ****** weigh-ins were sold out.
” I don’t think Pat said it, but if so, he must be the most dumb motherf ***** anywhere. I mean, you know how f****** stupid you have to be to even think something like that, let alone say it publicly and act like you’re f****** serious. We’re regulated by the athletic commission, and if you think we told Khamzat Chimaev to not make weight, then Khamzat shows up and the fans are all pissed off at him and stuff, and he’s going to just…if you know anything about the sport, this is a guy that was actually in the sport, training and fighting and everything else. If Pat really said that, holy s***, we might have to send him to the out f****** clinic, the brain clinic, to get him checked out.”
When informed by a reporter that the theory matched one from former UFC heavyweight turned podcaster Brendan Schaub, White apologized — and got off a parting shot on Schaub.
“I apologize to Pat Miletich, then. This makes sense .”
With a big smile, White exited stage right. The UFC exec and Schaub have traded barbs over the years, with Schaub blasting White’s decisions and White blasting Schaub’s opinions about them.
As of late, White has mostly refrained from openly insulting Schaub, who transitioned from the cage to podcasting and standup comedy and regularly used his platform to critique the UFC and its figurehead. He couldn’t resist this time.
Chimaev attributed his weight miss to a doctor’s decision to disallow him from continuing his weight cut for this past Saturday’s pay-per-view when he began suffering ill effects from losing weight. White stated that the star at welterweight was lighter than his last fight, and his weight loss was due to a doctor’s decision to stop him from continuing his weight reduction for Saturday’s pay-per-view. Chimaev’s coach claimed that he suffered cramping and vomiting as a result of the weight cuts.
Chimaev was 7.. 5 weighed in at 7. According to reports, the UFC was informed of this weight loss on Friday morning. They then shuffled three of UFC fights between Chimaev and Kevin Holland, Nate Diaz, Chimaev’s first opponent.
The last-second shift was a huge success with MMA fans, media and journalists. However, White stated that it was a pain in the neck. Chimaev’s weight loss was not reported to the Nevada Athletic Commission or promotion. This is because Holland had been weighing in at 180 for the scheduled fight against Daniel Rodriguez.
Schaub, however, said the turn of events was the result of a negative outlook for the UFC 279 pay-per-view, the result, he said on his podcast, of the scheduled fight between Diaz and Chimaev. MMA experts viewed the bout as a massive mismatch.
Schaub stated that the plan was in place at UFC 279’s press conference. This was cancelled due to a brawl between Chimaev and Holland. Schaub spoke of his experiences at UFC events, and stated that most fighters were now on their smartphones and could film any incident. He indicated something was askew, however, when no footage immediately leaked. He said that footage was not released on the actual day of the event as White had described.
” I just don’t think it was trending well. They had this type of as a Plan B,” Schaub stated.
The Nevada Athletic Commission is currently investigating the melee at UFC 279 press conference and has threatened fines and suspensions for those who participated. The commission was not present at the press conference but did oversee the official weigh-ins, where fighters are medically examined by commission-appointed doctors to ensure they are cutting weight safely. Additionally, the UFC regularly contracts with many of the same doctors to monitor athletes if any weight-cutting issues arise on fight week. The promotion has cancelled several fights when fighters have not been cleared to cut any more weight.
