Las Vegas, NV – After what turned out to be a chaotic couple of days UFC welterweight Khamzat Chimaev got a last second opponent change as he faced Kevin Holland at UFC 279 on Saturday night.
Chimaev (11-0) came into UFC 279 undefeated and with an opponent change. Originally slated to be on the main event opposite of Nate Diaz he instead took on Holland.
The change came as a result of Chimaev missing the welterweight limit by 7.5 pounds on Friday morning at the official weigh-ins. After some intense negotiation Diaz moved on to face Tony Ferguson in the main event pushing Chimaev to the co-main event against Holland.
Holland (23-7) was coming off a submission victory over Tim Means in June, and was set to face Daniel Rodriguez at a catchweight of 180 pounds, but when Chimaev missed weight it changed everything.
Chimaev and Holland are familiar with each other in the sense that there is some real heat in that fight. Holland has called Chimaev out in the past, and recently said that only does “wanna be street sh*t” when the media is around.
When the two came face to face prior to the UFC 279 press conference they got into a physical scuffle which set off a chain of events with Diaz’s team and resulted in the cancellation of the press conference.
The two settled the beef inside the octagon in the main event of UFC 279 on Saturday night.
Round 1 right off the bat Chimaev shot in with the takedown and got Holland to the ground. Constant scrambles, Holland surviving, Chimaev attacked repeatedly.
Holland defended the best he could but was overwhelmed and ultimately ended up in a d’arce choke and tapped.
Khamzat Chimaev gets the win in a very dominant and violent fashion.
Official Result: Khamzat Chimaev defeats Kevin Holland via R1 2:13 Submission (D’Arce Choke)
