Khamzat Chimaev could have continued cutting weight for his botched fight with Nate Diaz at UFC 279 - according to veteran MMA referee John McCarthy.
Chimaev, 28, was supposed to serve as the opponent for Diaz's final UFC fight this past weekend, but their main event clash was scrapped after Chimaev missed weight by 7.5lb. Chimaev went on to submit Kevin Holland inside two minutes in their catchweight fight, whilst Diaz exited the UFC on a high by tapping out fellow veteran Tony Ferguson.
UFC boss Dana White said they knew Chimaev was having problems making the 170lb limit and was told to stopping cutting weight by doctors in the early hours of Friday morning. Chimaev insisted he would have kept cutting weight if it wasn't for the doctors advice, but McCarthy has labelled his excuse as "bull****".
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"That's a bunch of bulls**t," he said on the Weighing In podcast. "I know the doctor that they're talking about. I'm not going to sit here and say his name, but he works for the UFC and he's a great guy. Of course he's going to sit there and say, 'Hey, stop!' because he knows Chimaev is dehydrated already. What does a doctor say? No, keep on going until you possibly make the weight or you possibly end up in the hospital?"
"For liability reasons he's got to say stop. There's not just liability. I want to remind people that everyone kept saying 'the doctor said'. Well my doctor told me not to f****g run anymore too because my foot was f***ed up, but I still did it. Your doctor tells you to do a lot of stuff that fighters just go, 'Ah f*** it'. This is one of those situations where he knew he wasn't going to make the weight. You can blame the doctor all you want."
Chimaev was mocked by fans for comparing himself to legendary boxers Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson after his submission win over Holland. The Chechen's future at 170lb is in doubt after his massive weight miss, with UFC boss White admitting it creates problems for the promotions. Chimaev wasn't happy about the last-minute opponent change and claimed he would have fought Diaz for free.
"I was not happy with the change, my weight wasn't that big that it wouldn't work but the doctor said I had to [stop] it," he said. "I was mad as well, I was thinking what was going to happen. I wanted to fight Diaz, I didn't care about my money, I said give all my money to that guy and let him just fight with me."
