A late change in a fight week can be difficult as both a fighter and commentator. There is a time and a place for it. The early morning hours of Friday, Sept. 9 in Las Vegas were a nightmare for Mazdas. Shammas knew at 4 a.m. that his fighter would not be making weight for the main event. Chimaev and his team had done everything they could, but with about five pounds left to go, Chimaev's body was seizing up. He vomited and felt unwell. The cut was called off because of doctors' advice. Shammas needed to let the UFC know. The main event of the biggest fight promotion in the world was not going to happen. Chimaev had a chance to beat one of the sport's biggest stars in his first pay-per-viewmain event. It was a disaster if you missed weight ahead of a gift. If the pay-per-view is purchased, all of the fights will be available to watch. Tony Ferguson is being challenged byNateDiaz.
• Kevin Holland vs. Khamzat Chimaev
• Li Jingliang vs. Daniel Rodriguez
• Irene Aldana vs. Macy Chiasson
• Johnny Walker vs. Ion Cutelaba
• Hakeem Dawodu vs. Julian Erosa
• Jailton Almeida vs. Anton Turkalj
• Jamie Pickett vs. Denis Tiuliulin
• Jake Collier vs. Chris Barnett
• Norma Dumont vs. Danyelle Wolf
• Alatengheili vs. Chad Anheliger
• Elise Reed vs. Melissa Martinez
• Darian Weeks vs. Yohan Lainesse
You can watch the complete card on pay per view.
Hunter Campbell is the UFC's chief business officer. Campbell is in charge of the UFC when chaos strikes. Campbell handles the act of seeing it through, even though the UFC follows the vision and lead of its president.
Campbell and Shammas talked about Chimaev's weight and possible solutions that might keep the card together.
At that time, there were a number of bouts in the UFC's top lineup, including a 170-pound bout between Kevin Holland and Daniel Rodriguez, a 170-pound bout between Tony Ferguson and Li Jingliang, and a 180-pound catchweight fight between Kevin Holland and Daniel Rodriguez One change in the fights could lead to another and another in a domino effect. All six fighters were scheduled to weigh in at 9 a.m., but this was happening just hours before that. There is a person in this picture
Shammas said it was a fantasy to pull this off early that morning. It will be a miracle if we pull this off. An amazing event.
The story of the 14 hours in Las Vegas is based on information from multiple sources.
The New York New York Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip is where Chameev's weight cut began. Chimaev had to cut 15 pounds from his body in the last 12 hours before the weigh-in, which is not uncommon in MMA.
The fighter ran in a sweat suit for 90 minutes and then rode a bike. The weight was starting to come off. Chimaev was close to his target after a couple hours. Chimaev was ordered to sleep by Michael. The team would wake up at 6 a.m. on Friday and finish the cut in a bath.
Michael woke up some of his team members at his door. There was something wrong.
Michael said that he always has friends watch the fighter during a cut. In the middle of the night, they came to me and said it wasn't looking good. I took a bit of time to see what was happening. I was wondering if I would have to put him in a hot bath. This is not safe.
The doctors told Michael to call off the cut. Chimaev couldn't be asked to continue. Shammas called the UFC to let them know.
Chimaev's team was told of his expected weight miss before the official weigh-ins at 9 a.m. The UFC's selection of Chimaev as his final opponent was not something that he was happy about. He thought the company was trying to turn him into a fall guy.
"What they got me doing right now is acting like I called for this fight, which I didn't call for and I don't want and still don't want, so I'm acting like I want this fight, which I don't want and still don'
He received advice from doctors about his weight cut.
When the UFC told the team of Chimaev's situation, he was very specific about whether or not the fight would go ahead.
The fight would be at the contracted weight of 171 pounds. Everything we were supposed to do was done as professionals.
One hour before the weigh-in, the UFC contacted Holland to inquire about his weight.
Holland called his manager to inform him of the call, which surprised him.
Holland said that he thought he was in trouble. I'm being asked about my weight.
"You're fine, dude," Hodak said. Something is up if they ask about your weight. Some pieces are moving.
Holland was filled in on the situation by the UFC. Chimaev was going to miss weight and weigh Holland's weight. How would Holland like to fight Chimaev, who he got into an altercation with the previous day, instead of Rodriguez? Holland said he would, but they needed to talk to Hodak.
Holland looked annoyed on the scale. He wrote on the social networking site, "Professionals make weight."
Campbell met Ferguson's representatives at the Apex after Holland found out about the change. Ferguson's team knew something was happening. Holland and Campbell were going to be summoned. A piece of paper was given to them by Campbell. At the bottom was 'Ferguson vs.Diaz.' The main event is five rounds.
Ferguson was ready to weigh in for his bout against Li after this meeting. He saw a beautiful car in the parking lot while he was at the Apex. Ferguson admires a good ride when he sees one, and he was very interested in the car he was about to drive.
Campbell and Ferguson met face-to-face for the first time that day. The former interim champ told the UFC that he liked the idea of saving the card and that he liked the fight. He and his camp had joked about it a few weeks ago, but he had to speak to his wife before he accepted. Ferguson said he consults his family on his decisions.
Ferguson returned to visit with Campbell after he weighed in. He told Campbell that he needed to think about it more and that he would probably do his best thinking behind the wheel of that expensive car.
Campbell told Ferguson to take the car for as long as he wanted. I don't care about the car. Ferguson and the car came back about 45 minutes later and he agreed to go to the main event.
Tim Simpson was at home recovering from his surgery. Li is one of Simpson's clients. Simpson wasn't meant to be working because of his recovery, but he was anxious and had been monitoring the social networking site all day. There was something strange about the main event. Chimaev was rumored to be missing weight.
Simpson's initial thought was to Li. He knows the game well. No one would blame him if he turned down the chance to fight Chimaev. Ferguson was the obvious backup in the new fight forDiaz. How did that affect Li?
Simpson talked to SeanShelby at 10:25 a.m. At that time, everything was not fixed. Nothing was set as Campbell, Shelby and Mick worked hard. They told him that the fight between Li and Ferguson was probably going to blow up. Ferguson was offered a new fight.
Simpson called Li to let him know that the news was true. The Chinese man who has fought in the UFC for more than eight years refused to come out of the bathroom.
Simpson said that people don't know how big of a star Tony is. It was a dream fight for the Leech to fight Tony. He was fighting for a title. He was really sad.
Li and his team began to discuss options after a few moments. He could either bail on the card or take a completely different fight against Rodriguez.
Simpson said it was D-Rod, but it was 10 pounds heavier.
Li said there was no problem. I'm going to fight him.
Simpson apologized and said he's so sorry. You did what you were supposed to do. You're not deserving of this.
Li said the only thing that mattered was the moment.
Simpson agreed to the change on Li's behalf. Rodriguez has taken short-notice fights in the past.
The UFC was making progress, but it didn't have final approval from the three men. Without those three there wouldn't be a card.
The simple act of saving UFC279 had turned into a bigger picture for Campbell's view. If you're one of the fans who saved up money and invested it into travel and event tickets, you can count on the UFC to have an event.
Campbell thought about everything. As a last resort, the UFC was in contact with the former interim lightweight champion, who had been training for weeks in Louisiana and already told the company: 'If anything happens with Chimaev, give me' It would have been a long shot, with a lot of work to be done with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, but Campbell was willing to try it if needed be.
It did not come to that. The new main event opponent was accepted at 2:30 p.m.
Holland didn't agree with the Chimaev fight. He wanted the fight to be five rounds after leaving the weigh-in. Since Chimaev blew this thing up, he shouldn't dictate the length of the fight. Holland made it clear that there would be no fight if it was not five rounds.
There was a last-minute hurdle created by Holland. The Chimaev team didn't like the idea of five rounds.
Shammas said it was logical to want three rounds after having the weight cut. I know how datememe datememe datememe datememe's conditioning is. For five rounds, he's a truck. The weight cut made me want to make it three rounds.
The fight had already begun between Chimaev and Holland over direct messages on the social media platform.
"Khamzat claimed that he missed weight so that he could kick Kevin's ass and that he was running his mouth to make it sound like he was lying," he said. I was writing out a bunch of tears.
Kamzat told Kevin to accept the fight. Shammas told them to accept the fight. Kevin said it wouldn't be a fight, but he wanted to wrestle.
3 a.m. Dana White planned a live broadcast from his and SportsCenter's social media accounts. White was at the UFC's headquarters while Eaves was at the ceremonial weigh-in at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
The fight was five rounds. Chimaev and Holland are in a five round match. There were three rounds.
Campbell was still working on finalising the event even after White made his announcement. The fighters signed their agreements at the weigh-ins. Chimaev and others didn't get around to signing theirs until the day of the fight. All parties refused to reveal details of the negotiations, only that they covered everything from financials to rounds.
The rest is history according to them. Rodriguez beat Li. Chimaev might have turned into the sport's biggest heel because of how he dominated Holland. His future at the weight class is not known. Michael said his next bout will probably be at the middle weight class. Ferguson was submitted in the fourth-round of their main event, and will head into free agency off a great win.
The reworked card played out better than the original, which has led some to believe that the UFC planned the whole thing. One day before weigh-ins, Chimaev and Holland got into it at the press conference. He missed weight by a lot. Is it all staged?
White told Raimondi that if he thought that the crazy dudes we had this week could be orchestrated into something, he was out of his mind.
The UFC was able to change the way the card was constructed. The formula of at least one title fight at the top is usually followed by UFC pay-per-views. Only four of the last two years have featured non-title fights. There were two of those. There was a match between the two men. UFC 27 was the last.
The UFC decided to add Ferguson a few weeks before the event. He was the perfect back up. Holland vs Rodriguez was a 180-pound catchweight, rather than a 170-pound fight as it normally would have been, allowing flexibility with Chimaev's miss.
There was some built-in insurance on this card, but no one would say it was incorrect. It was a dream before it became a reality.
Shammas said that everyone has a team, not just what the managers want. We only had southpaws in the gym facing Khamzat for the last two months. Kevin Holland is different in every way and now he has to go to him. Now he has a wrestler, he had a strikers. It all falls apart if one of those coaches says, "Hell no, my guy isn't taking that fight"
It's crazy what the UFC and fighters were able to do.
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