UFC star Khamzat Chimaev has complained that "nobody wants to fight" him as he looks to make his return to the UFC after a controversial last outing.
The Swede missed weight by over 7.5lb for his last fight at UFC 279 in Las Vegas, which was due to be against Nate Diaz in a welterweight clash. Luckily, rival Kevin Holland was already booked at a catchweight on the same card, and the promotion were able to rearrange the event to have Diaz face Tony Ferguson in the main event while Chimaev faced Holland.
It was to be Chimaev's first main event, and a massive number of fans have turned on him since the incident, which he seemed to joke about in social media posts and on the scales at the event. However, he remained flawless in the cage, making quick work of Holland and remaining a title contender at both welterweight and middleweight.
In a recent vlog on his YouTube page, Chimaev explained his situation, noting that he was in training camp for an unspecified fighter, claiming that the UFC are frequently changing his plans. "I'm going to fight somebody," he said. "I don't know who, they change opponents all the time, every week I have a new opponent.
"But nobody wants to fight. The guys speak a lot of trash talk, a lot of s*** about me and 'I want to fight you, I want to fight you,' but when it comes to the fight and signing a contract they always want to run away. I'm always ready, we'll see what's going to happen now."
Chimaev is hopeful that he will be able to make it on to the promotion's first of two pay-per-view events in March next year, which is set to take place in Las Vegas on March 4. Whether or not he will make the move up to middleweight or try one last time to get down to welterweight remains to be seen.
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"I think we'll be, hopefully, in Vegas in March, we'll see but I don't know who," he continued, before adding that it "doesn't matter" which division he fights in so long as there is an opponent. "I just need an opponent, I am tired of doing this trash talking, it's boring and this is not my game.
"I'm the next for a title, who are these guys going to fight? Alex Pereira [the middleweight champion] had a 6-1 record, he lost against a s*** guy who is not in the UFC - I never lost in my life. UFC don't want it, the guy don't want it, what am I going to do? If the guys run away from me, just give me somebody, I'm ready."
He is in Dubai training at the moment, with a return at the forefront of his mind. The Swede burst on to the scene with two fights at different weight classes in his first two weeks with the UFC, but has since struggled to find opponents after dominant victories over the likes of Holland, Li Jingliang and Gilbert Burns.
