Jake Shields believes Khamzat Chimaev is the real ‘fake gangster’.
Shields, a former UFC fighter and cornerman to Nate Diaz, bore witness yesterday to a heated exchange between Paulo Costa and Khamzat Chimaev that took place at the UFC Performance Institute. Shields now claims the Chechen Wolf is, ironically, the embodiment of his own favorite insult, given the way Chimaev had handled the altercation.
“I was there this morning working out with Paulo Costa, going over some techniques and just drilling,” Shields told MMA Junkie of the incident. “And all of a sudden Khamzat starts yelling at us and cussing Paulo like, ‘Well, you want to fight?’” Shields said. “We look over, and it’s him and like 10 dudes.”
“So we run over and start talking sh*t and Khamzat keeps going, ‘Let’s fight now, let’s fight now,’ but as he’s saying that, he’s walking down the stairs. It seemed like it was kind of more of an act for the cameras than anything. I guess someone said afterward that he was scoping us out for 10 minutes. If he wanted to fight Paulo, he would’ve run in there and started swinging on him, not stood outside the cage and say, ‘Let’s fight right now. Let’s fight right now.’
“It seemed kind of a weak thing. I guess that’s why he was upset because Paulo called him a fake gangster, and that was a perfect example of him being a fake gangster.”
The AllStar MMA roundup
- UFC 279: Gilbert Burns sees Khamzat Chimaev finishing Nate Diaz early by TKO
- UFC 279: Julian Erosa likely to make the fight down & dirty against “clean striker” Hakeem Dawodu
- UFC 279: Chad Anheliger says he wants to finish Heili Alateng – “I want to just beat this guy up”
- UFC 279: Darian Weeks clarifies UFC Paris dropout, ready to open UFC 279 with a bang
The best of the rest
- Anthony Smith reveals harrowing details of previous weight cuts to 185 pounds: ‘I wasn’t sure I was going to live’ – MMAFighting.com
- Khamzat Chimaev OK with Leon Edwards vs. Kamaru Usman trilogy next, could pivot to Israel Adesanya – MMAJunkie.com
- Joe Rogan: Anderson Silva would be a very, very tough fight for ‘really legit’ Jake Paul – MMAjunkie.com
- Junior Dos Santos goes off on ‘dirty fighter’ Ciryl Gane, accuses him of fouling Tuivasa at UFC Paris – BloodyElbow.com
- Khamzat Chimaev believes Kamaru Usman won’t be same after UFC 278 knockout: ‘Now you know you’re human’ – MMAFighting.com
The soapbox
A happy birthday to the baddest man on the planet:
Bobby Knuckles reacts to his UFC Paris win:
Costa’s been bumping into everyone today:
Samoan brothers in arms:
The plight of long-haired fighters:
The morning view
Brad Riddell ponders on a move to professional wrestling:
Coach James Krause breaks down Nate Diaz’ perfect punch:
UFC 279 Embedded kicks off with episode one:
Done deals
Tuesday
- none to note
Monday
- Fernie Garcia to fight Brady Hiestand at UFC event on November 19th (per Alex Behunin)
On this day in MMA…
On the 6th of September, 2008, ‘Suga’ Rashad Evans defied the odds and knocked out Chuck Liddell at UFC 88: Breakthrough.
Evans, the +198 underdog heading into the bout despite riding an 11-fight win streak with not a single loss to his name, finished ‘The Iceman’ at 1:51 of the second round with a single right hand, earning him knockout of the night honors (remember when performance bonuses had that label?) and a $50,000 bonus.
This began a four-fight losing streak that Lidell would end his career on.
