Khamzat Chimaev has given his take on Francis Ngannou’s ongoing pay dispute with the UFC.
The heavyweight champion hasn’t fought since his first title defense against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 back in January. Ngannou’s knee ligament injury has kept him on the sidelines but it seems like his contract has also proven to be a roadblock to his octagon return.
Khamzat Chimaev recently spoke to ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto and implored fighters to remember their past and be grateful. He also spoke about the difficulties he faced personally.
“If Dana calls me, ‘Let’s do these things,’ I do it. I appreciate it, like what Dana and UFC did for me, you know. A lot of guys talking about ‘UFC don’t give us like good money’ and those things. Go back and where they’ve been, one, two, three years ago. Don’t remember that, you know. I was homeless almost, you know.”
‘Borz’ then mentioned Ngannou and offered advice to the Cameroonian-French fighter:
“So, lot of guys as well. And big guy, what his name? [Francis] Ngannou. He talking about they don’t give him good money and all these things. And he was speaking about living outside. Why don’t do it right now? Has to appreciate everything that’s happened with him. Just fight, fight, the money coming.”
Khamzat Chimaev wants to fight Alex Pereira and Colby Covington
Khamzat Chimaev’s last fight involved weight-cutting issues that forced him to back out of the originally scheduled main event clash against Nate Diaz and fight Kevin Holland at catchweight instead.
Chimaev then hinted at a move up to the middleweight division without really confirming it. In his interview with ESPN MMA, he named potential opponents from both the welterweight and middleweight divisions.
The 28-year-old spoke about his intention to challenge newly-crowned middleweight king Alex Pereira before taking on Colby Covington soon after.
“Before, I was thinking if Kamaru Usman wins his fight, I will fight with him next. But he lost. And I was thinking if [Israel] Adesanya won his fight, who’s he going to fight? There’s only me. And he lost as well. Now [Pereira and Adesanya] want to rematch in March, I don’t know what they’re going to do. So I said to Sean Shelby and Dana as well, I’m ready for Pereira in Brazil. Directly after that, March, if Colby wants to fight, I’d take my title and I’d go down to 170 and fight Colby as well.” [h/t MMA Fighting]
Check out Khamzat Chimaev’s entire interview with ESPN MMA on YouTube:
