Khamzat Chimaev squared off against Kevin Holland in a five-round co-main event fight that took place at the UFC 279 PPV in front of a packed T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Borz extended his undefeated streak to six wins as he submitted Holland in the first round of the fight.
Despite winning his matchup in dominant fashion, many fans criticized Chimaev for pulling a cheap tactic at the very beginning of the fight. As soon as the bell rung for the fight, it looked as if Kevin was reaching out for a glove touch and Khamzat ignored that and dived in for a takedown attempt.
Khamzat Chimaev doing the fake glove touch is so dirty #ufc279 #ufc #mma pic.twitter.com/204qrNlzWP
— MidwestVillain (@midwestvillano) September 11, 2022
Consequently, in the UFC 279 post fight press conference, one of the interviewers questioned Khamzat whether he saw Kevin Holland reaching out for a glove touch or does he think that people are making this thing up on the internet.
“How I gonna see that. I wanna take off his head. I’m gonna watch his hands? I was watching his head. I don’t know, so always people find some funny things to say. I don’t know. They want to go back, we’ll go back and execute his head over again.”
There are mixed opinions on Khamzat going for a takedown instead of touching gloves with Kevin as several fans online believe that Holland should have been aware and defended himself.
Do let us know in the comments section below your thoughts on this incident that took place during the Khamzat Chimaev vs Kevin Holland fight at UFC 279.
Khamzat Chimaev is down to fight Kevin Holland in a rematch in the future
After responding to allegations regarding the fake glove touch controversy, Khamzat Chimaev offered Kevin Holland an opportunity to train with him in Sweden. The Borz also admitted that this is not the last time he has seen Holland across the octagon as they are both young and he believes that they will clash again somewhere down the line in future.
Holland has not replied to Khamzat’s offer to train with him in Sweden. Given their rivalry before the fight, it doesn’t seem like Kevin Holland would accept Chimaev’s offer.
Speaking about Khamzat’s comments on the rematch, both The Borz and Kevin Holland are highly skilled fighters. But the likelihood of them fighting each other again is very low as the two welterweights are miles away in terms of rankings. Moreover, Holland would need to defeat a lot of top ranked opponents before getting a rematch against the Borz.