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Khamzat Chimaev and Nate Diaz are potentially on a collision course after Dana White's war room blackboard revealed future matchups the UFC has lined up.
Needless to say, Chimaev is fully on board. Taking to Twitter, the Russian-born Swede called Diaz out, challenging him to accept the fight:
"[Let's] fight skinny @NateDiaz209"
Check out Khamzat Chimaev's tweet below:
The UFC's planned matchups were revealed during White's recent appearance on the Pivot Podcast. Eagle-eyed fans spotted the matchmakers' board in the background with a list of potential bouts lined up for UFC 276 in July.
Among the listed bouts are Israel Adesanya vs. Jared Cannonier, Sean Strickland vs. Alex Perreira, Lauren Murphy vs. Meisha Tate, Pedro Munhoz vs. Sean O'Malley, and of course, Khazat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz.
Diaz has been clamoring for a fight since late last year as his current UFC contract is set to expire after his next fight. He has also expressed his frustrations on social media and even asked for his release from the company.
Fortunately, it appears that Diaz doesn't have to wait much longer. The catch, however, is that he'll have to take on one of the toughest assignments in the welterweight division.
Nate Diaz initially declined Khamzat Chimaev fight
It's still unclear whether Nate Diaz has changed his mind about fighting Khamzat Chimaev. Based on his previous comments, the Stockton-based fighter doesn't appear too thrilled with the matchup.
During a previous interview with TMZ Sports, Diaz revealed that the UFC offered him a fight against 'Borz', which he declined. The octagon bad-boy revealed:
"They're coming at me with [Khamzat], and I'm like, 'Hold on, don't disrespect me like that, trying to offer me a fight with a rookie.' I'm cool, you got four fights in the UFC. Don't even talk my name."
Check out the interview below:
However, a lot has changed since then. For one, Chimaev has since skyrocketed to the No.3 spot in the welterweight rankings following his UFC 273 victory over Gilbert Burns. Diaz is also out of options after his negotiations with Dustin Poirier's camp have amounted to nothing.
