UFC fan favourite Nate Diaz has cited Khamzat Chimaev getting married as the reason for their fight being delayed.
Leaked matchups from the UFC's matchmaking room showed several yet-to-be announced fights in a recent podcast that Dana White appeared on. Amongst those was a planned fight between Diaz and Chimaev for UFC 276 on July 2.
The July pay-per-view event takes place during International fight week and is one of the promotion's biggest cards of the year. Chimaev caught wind of the planned matchup and wrote to Diaz on Twitter : "[Let's] fight skinny".
But Diaz has now claimed that Chimaev is the reason their fight is taking longer than expected to organise. "I've been trying to fight for a year and months I also tried to fight Khamzat for the last month and a half but he was hurt," Diaz wrote.
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"He had visa issues, overweight and now his b**** a** is off getting married instead of fighting wtf? I’m trying to get a fight with a real fighter asap/July." Diaz has been on the last fight of his UFC contract since losing a decision to Leon Edwards last June.
Chimaev, who recently got married in his home country of Chechenya, laughed off Diaz's claim that he is to blame for the fight delay. "You are funny, are you high? It seems like you've been smoking," Chimaev replied.
It's not the first time Diaz has been linked to fight rising star Chimaev, as he claims the UFC tried to book the fight last December. "They’re coming at me with [Chimaev], and I’m like, ‘Hold on, don’t disrespect me like that, trying to offer me a fight with a rookie,’” he told TMZ.
“Don’t even talk my name. There's levels to this. Anybody in the higher level even playing along to this Khamzat sh**, you’re a b****, too, taking that s***. You’re a new rookie – deal with new people.”
Diaz has previously requested his release from the UFC after they failed to book a fight between him and Dustin Poirier earlier this year. The Stockton native has been heavily linked to a trilogy fight with Conor McGregor, but Diaz said he would rather be released than fight McGregor again.
With the five fights on the UFC 276 main card all now confirmed, it's unlikely that Diaz and Chimaev will be booked on the card. Chimaev picked up the biggest win of his UFC career so far when he outpointed Gilbert Burns in April, jumping up to No.3 in the welterweight rankings with the win.
