Darren Till believes Khamzat Chimaev can make welterweight, even if maybe he wouldn’t advise him to do so.

At UFC 279, Chimaev missed weight for his scheduled bout with Nate Diaz, coming in 7.5 pounds over the welterweight limit, leading the UFC to reshuffle the top three fights on the card. In the aftermath, Chimaev blamed the doctor for not allowing him to continue cutting weight, while some fans suggested that Chimaev didn’t even attempt to do so, instead arguing that “Borz” simply wasn’t committed. Till disagrees with both of those interpretations though.

“I see what Khamzat did to make the weight. He tried his utmost,” Till told ESPN. “I don’t want to go into detail about it, but I know what he did, and the right decision was to stop cutting. Every fighter will know this… His body just shut down. His body stopped responding at a certain point. Now okay, it was at a bad point where he was like seven, eight pounds over. But what can you do? Do you want to do it like me, where I completely went blind for the [Jorge] Masvidal weight cut and then look what happens?

“I’m not saying Masvidal didn’t beat me fair and square, I’m just saying that if I’d been at a healthy weight — like middleweight when Kelvin Gastelum was throwing shots at my chin I was eating them, because I’m healthy. So it was the right move for Khamzat to stop cutting, because things would have gotten considerably worse.”

Till knows a thing or two about what he speaks. Beginning his UFC career as a welterweight, weight troubles were a consistent issue for “The Gorilla,” and he twice badly missed weight for bouts. Till finally moved up to the middleweight division in 2019 and has had no such issues since. Though this was only Chimaev’s first weight miss, many are calling for him to do the same, and while Till sort of agrees, he also believes that Chimaev can still make 170 pounds without too much issue.

“I wouldn’t [advise him to go back to welterweight], but the only thing I know with Khamzat is he can make welterweight comfortably, because his body carries so much muscle and muscle carries the most water,” Till said. “When you are doing a weight cut, the more muscle you have the easier it is to lose, to drop the weight because your muscle carries a lot of water. You can’t trim fat in one night. Khamzat needs to come in fight week, maybe – it’s not much — one kilo, two kilos lighter and he will make the weight comfortably. Just a few adjustments. He’s still new. He shot to stardom, the same thing I did, and there’s still things to learn.”

For his part, Chimaev also seems intent that he can make 170 pounds and so, for the time being, his stated weight class is unlikely to change. What has changed though is the fan perception of him. Heading into UFC 279, Chimaev was the next big thing for the UFC, but after the various fiascos on fight week, Chimaev has turned into a full-blown heel in the company. And Till says he advised his friend to steer into the skid.

“It’s time to embrace being the bad guy now. Embrace it,” Till said. “I feel like since my career started… I felt like a bad guy a lot of the time. But I just said to him after the press conference, the weight cut, ‘What are you going to do mate? Just embrace it. You’re the villain, now. You’re the bad guy, you’re the Joker. You’re the evil guy. So just embrace it. And he did. [Laughs]. So good. So good.”

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TOP STORIES

Rankings. Leon Edwards climbs to the to spot in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings.

Beef. Brendan Schaub responds to ‘dummy’ Dana White: ‘You’re a low budget Vince McMahon.’

Prediction. Matchroom exec Eddie Hearn picks Jake Paul to win over Anderson Silva in upcoming boxing match.

Finished. Daniel Cormier: Tony Ferguson is ‘done’ after UFC 279 loss, calls veteran ‘a shell of himself.’

Legend. Andre Pederneiras advises Jose Aldo to retire, but expects former champion to finish contract at UFC 283.

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VIDEO STEW

The MMA Hour.

Top 10 Career Finishes between Cory Sandhagen and Song Yadong.

Tommy Toe Hold on UFC 279.

MixedMollyWhoppery on Jiri Prochazka.

Aljamain Sterling fight preparation.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

The champ has spoken.

Molly McCann got her Rolex from Drake.

Paulo Costa weighing in on the Schaub-White beef.

Chase Hooper.

Terrance McKinney.

Mike Perry doing his best.

Prediction.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Calvin Kattar (23-6) vs. Arnold Allen (18-1); UFC Fight Night, Oct. 29.

Liz Carmouche (17-7) vs. Juliana Velasquez (12-1); Bellator 289, Dec. 9.

Mark Lemminger (12-5) vs. Michael Lombardo (12-3-1); Bellator 289, Dec. 9.

Cody Law (6-1) vs. Cris Lencioni (9-3); Bellator 289, Dec. 9.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks for reading! See y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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