UFC Corridor of Famer and former welterweight titleholder Georges St-Pierre expects a troublesome night time on the workplace for Nate Diaz at UFC 279 however warns to not rely out The Final Fighter 5 winner fully in opposition to Khamzat Chimaev.
St-Pierre gave a complete breakdown of each fighters forward of their extremely anticipated welterweight conflict at UFC 279, with ‘Rush’ favoring Chimaev to choose up the win however warning that ‘something can occur’ in MMA — particularly in opposition to Diaz.
“This struggle is at welterweight, the chances will likely be towards Chimaev. I believe it favors him due to that,” St-Pierre stated at a UFC Paris fan Q&A this previous weekend (h/t MMA Preventing).
“Nevertheless, Nate Diaz, you may’t ever rely him out. He’s very well-rounded, he’s very sturdy, and it’ll take loads to try to put him away. However Khamzat, it’s going to be a troublesome problem as a result of he solely went the gap in his final struggle, I imagine, and I believe he grew extremely from that struggle, he realized loads. So I believe we’re going to see a greater model of Khamzat, nonetheless higher than what he was. So it’s going to be an attention-grabbing struggle.”
“Khamzat is superb. He’s obtained all the abilities and he showcased unbelievable sturdiness and nice psychological power in his final struggle when he fought Gilbert Burns, as a result of he was pushed to the restrict. That’s whenever you acknowledge a real warrior, a real champion [compared] to a contender. When he confronted these moments of adversity — some collapse, however some push via and succeed — he proved it in his final struggle. He’s very, superb.”
“Nate Diaz did a fantastic efficiency when he fought Leon Edwards,” he added. “He was shedding the struggle however he completed very sturdy, he rocked Leon Edwards and he had a really sturdy end. And it proves to us as soon as once more that it’s by no means over till it’s over and something can occur. After which we noticed what occurred the opposite final weekend [with Edwards and Kamaru Usman at UFC 278] … so something can occur on this recreation. But when I must guess on that struggle, in fact, I’ve to go together with the chances and favor Khamzat Chimaev.”
Diaz will enter the struggle as a large 7-to-1 underdog, with the UFC fan favourite anticipated to discover free company following the bout.
UFC 279: Chimaev vs. Diaz will happen on Sept. 10 on the T-Cell Area in Las Vegas, Nevada.
