Dan Hardy calls Nate Diaz vs. Khamzat Chimaev an “assassination attempt”

Dan Hardy continues to take shots at the UFC and Dana White, this time over their booking of Nate Diaz vs. Khamzat Chimaev at UFC279.

The booking was widely criticized as an attempt to send Diaz into free agency on a high profile loss. Bookies set the line at -1000 for Chimaev and +800 for Diaz, extremely wide odds that gave Nate a 9% chance of winning. Of course, the bout never happened. Chimaev came in 7.5 pounds over weight, and Diaz ended up fighting (and beating) Tony Ferguson instead.

That didn’t stop Dan Hardy from ripping into the UFC over their original plan.

“Imagine Nate Diaz – Khamzat Chimaev. We all know what that was,” Hardy said on the Freedom Pact podcast (via The Mac Life). “We all knew what that was. Fortunately it worked out, that fight didn’t happen. And then what did we get from Dana the week after? ‘It’s a good thing that fight didn’t happen. That would’ve been really bad.’ Like yeah, man.”

“I don’t have to buy your bulls*** anymore, because I know it’s bulls***,” Hardy continued. “You know what you’re doing. It was an assassination attempt. They were trying to bury him before he left his UFC contract.”

“That Chimaev against Diaz fight felt more like, it just felt like an execution. And that, to me, felt like you’ve got one person or one small group of people that are using one part of the roster to punish the other part of the roster. That’s not sport. That’s dogfighting. It’s just ugly. It’s just an ugly thing, and it make me feel uncomfortable, because I love the sport, and that would damage it.”

Hardy went so far as to suggest the UFC was somehow behind the last-minute card switch-up at UFC 279 that resulted in three fights swapping opponents.

“It was fortunate the MMA gods shined down on us that day,” Hardy said. “But I also feel like there was some meddling in the background to make sure that didn’t happen. Because I think the closer the fight got, the more the UFC realized how much they were gonna bury themselves if Nate got hurt.”

Dan Hardy has been making headlines lately with his criticisms of the UFC. Recently he suggested UFC president Dana White staged a video clip where he expressed concern for Calvin Kattar after he sustained a five round beating at the hands of Max Holloway on an ABC card.

“I don’t give a f*** what anybody thinks so you don’t have to worry about me staging anything, and I definitely don’t give a f*** what Dan Hardy thinks,” White said when told of Hardy’s accusation. “Dan Hardy’s a guy that was mistreating a woman who worked here and that’s why he was fired. So obviously he’s bitter and I’m assuming that’s why he would say something like that.”

While Hardy no longer works for the UFC, he still has an analyst position with BT Sport, the promotion’s broadcast partner in the UK. Hopefully his recent statements won’t put that role in jeopardy.

Do you agree with Dan Hardy’s opinion on the Nate Diaz vs. Khamzat Chimaev fight? Did the UFC play some secret role in UFC 279 getting shuffled? Let us know in the comments, PENN Nation!