Sean O’Malley has continued to offer his thoughts on Khamzat Chimaev’s recent weight miss from UFC 279.
Sean O’Malley Wants Khamzat To Move Up In Weight
Chimaev was initially slated to headline UFC 279 against Nate Diaz last week, however, after missing weight terribly, Chimaev was removed from the main event.
Instead, the card was shuffled, where Chimaev was moved to face Kevin Holland, while Diaz faced off against Tony Ferguson in the main event.
In the aftermath of the event, many are speculating if Chimaev will ever be booked at 170 pounds again given his weight miss, perhaps jumping up to middleweight.
The story of Chimaev’s weight cut suggests that a UFC doctor actually stopped the young star from cutting weight after checking in on him.
Speaking on a recent episode of his podcast, UFC bantamweight star Sean O’Malley says he’s never had a doctor check in on him in the middle of cutting weight.
“I’ve never in my, five, six, whatever years in the UFC, had a doctor come and check on me during weight cuts.
“I’m sure if they come and look at me, the last pound when I’m in the bathtub, they’d be like – they’d probably say, to anybody – like a doctor comes in they’re not used to seeing humans like that.”
In regards to what’s next for Chimaev, O’Malley would like to see him jump up to 185 pounds, as he’s not confident he’ll make welterweight again.
“I want to see him at 185. Even when he fought Gilbert Burns he did the towel thing and lost five pounds.
“I mean when’s the last time Khamzat made 170 actually? Not the last two fights so it’s probably been over a year.”
Regardless of what’s next for Chimaev, O’Malley is excited to see the grappling phenom’s next contest. However, he’s pretty certain that the fight has to take place at middleweight after his recent weight cut.
“I want to watch his next fight, I’m so curious who it’s going to be. It can’t be Colby, he’s not going to make 170 dude, he’s not going to make it.
“I don’t even know if the UFC will book him at 170. But it doesn’t seem like he wants to go up to 185, which is kind of surprising, because he is big, and super f*cking skilled.
“And he’s got to be confident – but. I don’t know if he wants those fights up there, those are big boys.”
As for why Chimaev missed weight, O’Malley speculates that his past battle with COVID-19 could play a factor.
“I wonder how much – he got COVID – I love how Colby says he retired from the common cold – but Khamzat retired.
“Maybe it was an intentional thing, maybe it wasn’t and he thought he was actually done. Because COVID f*cked him up so bad. He was in the hospital.
“It fucked him up that bad, maybe that has something to do with him making 170 now? It’s hard to say.
“But I’m definitely excited for his next fight. I think it’s got to be at 185. If you’re the UFC you can’t risk him going to 170 again and him not making weight. You can’t risk that.”
