UFC 279: Khamzat Chimaev invites Kevin Holland to train after submission win

UFC star Khamzat Chimaev has invited Kevin Holland to train at his gym following their battle at UFC 279.

Last Saturday night in the co-main event of UFC 279, Khamzat Chimaev fought Kevin Holland in a fun catchweight bout that was made as a result of Chimaev missing weight for his original contest against Nate Diaz.

In addition to the controversy, Chimaev and Holland also exchanged words in a backstage scuffle on Thursday that led to the UFC 279 press conference being cancelled.

The pair were left to settle the score in the Octagon and it didn’t take long for them to do so, with ‘Borz’ taking Holland down and submitting him in the first round following a series of entertaining scrambles.

‘Big Mouth’ received a lot of praise for taking the fight on short notice whereas Chimaev, unsurprisingly, has a lot of making up to do with fans after he was booed relentlessly for his behaviour throughout fight week.

In his post-fight press conference, though, the Chechen sensation did show some humility by noting that he actually likes Holland and wants to train with him in the future.

“He’s actually a nice guy, so I like him, you know? Sometimes we don’t like each other before the fight, it’s all normal, we’re coming for the war, to kill each other. So, now this war is over, if he wants he can come to my gym and be one of us, and he’s nice guy, good guy, tough guy, you know? He has a lot of things to learn, so yeah, he’s one of the warriors.”

Chimaev has been able to build a similar relationship with another man who he formerly didn’t get along with, Darren Till.

There are still plenty of questions that need answering about the future of Khamzat Chimaev given that he missed the welterweight limit by more than seven pounds on Friday.