Dana White defends Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz fight booking: “It’s a good fight!”

UFC president Dana White doesn’t understand the criticism behind the Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz booking.

Earlier this month, the promotion announced the two welterweight stars would headline UFC 279 in September. The announcement comes after the Stockton-native publicly asked to be released multiple times or to fight out his UFC contract.

While the promotion believes it’s a big fight, it’s not one that’s seen as competitive. Oddsmakers quickly installed ‘Borz’ as a massive favorite over Diaz. Commentators such as Dan Hardy have labeled the fight as an “execution”, a popular sentiment among fans and pundits.

However, Dana White isn’t a believer in all of the negative sentiments. At a recent post-fight scrum, the promoter discussed the Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz booking. White defended the fight, stating it’s one the latter actually asked for.

Furthermore, the 53-year-old also stated that the fight itself is quite good. White also argued that the bout announcement has garnered a lot of excitement online. To be fair to the UFC president, there’s little doubt that the matchup will be massive for the promotion.

“I care about Nate a lot.” White said. “I like Nate, and Nate came in here, long before that fight was ever made, and we were talking about it being his last fight, and I said, ‘Listen, kid. You think about the wars that Nate Diaz has put on and the incredible fights and the big fights that he’s done with us, go do whatever you want to do, man.’ (h/t MMAFighting)

Dana White continued, “But getting a fight done with him isn’t as easy as seems. Everybody’s like, ‘Well, why don’t you make a fight?’ Well, he asked for Francis Ngannou. I could go on forever, but I won’t. We got it done. That’s the fight he wanted. We made it, and here we are. And it’s a good fight. It’s a fight people want to see. It’s a fight that people will be interested in, so we’re going to do it.”

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