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Michael Bisping has defended the upcoming matchup between Nate Diaz and Khamzat Chimaev amidst severe criticism from the MMA community. Fans and pundits alike failed to see any logic in matching up Diaz, who appears to be well past his prime, against the surging Chimaev, who is allegedly being ducked by top welterweights.
Bisping defended the matchup, claiming it was probably the biggest fight Diaz could land outside of a trilogy bout against Conor McGregor. 'The Count' also claims that Diaz earns a "ton of money" for his fights, which according to him justifies the UFC booking the Stockton native against the Chechen-born Swede.
Watch Bisping's video below:
However, fans did not take too kindly to Bisping justifying the Diaz vs. Chimaev matchup. According to them, the Englishman is going out of his way to defend the booking as he is a UFC employee. A user with the handle OskarOChavez commented on Bisping's video:
"Come on B, We all know you're a company man. You even had to look up the talking points on your laptop haha..."
Bisping was widely labeled "company man" for trying to justify the matchup between Diaz and Chimaev.
Khamzat Chimaev claims he doesn't "need to fight with Nate Diaz"
Nate Diaz has long been rallying to get his final UFC fight booked. The welterweight superstar felt he was sidelined by the UFC since June last year when he dropped a lopsided unanimous decision against Leon Edwards.
The idea of a potential matchup against Khamzat Chimaev was initially floated due to a matchmaking board leak. However, fans were taken by surprise when the UFC announced that the matchup was being targeted to headline a UFC PPV on September 10.
Weighing in on his upcoming opponent, Chimaev claimed that he doesn't really "need to" fight Diaz. 'Borz' seemingly took on the fight to stay active and edge closer to a title shot against Kamaru Usman. The Chechen-born Swede noted that he would have to wait a long time to fight Usman, who is likely to take some time off after his upcoming title defense against Leon Edwards. Chiamev told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour:
"I don’t need to fight with Nate Diaz. If I wanted to wait, this is gonna take a long time. Usman fights one time in one year. He has everything. He has money, he has pound-for-pound No. 1, that’s why he wants to wait. He takes long times and doesn’t want to lose his belts."
Watch Chimaev's appearance on The MMA Hour below:
