Nate Diaz is not a fan of Khamzat Chimaev’s fighting style, especially after watching him take the UFC middleweight title away from Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319 on Aug. 15.
Once scheduled to face Chimaev in his final fight in the UFC before the Russian athlete badly missed weight for UFC 279 in September 2022 — leading to Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson and Chimaev vs. Kevin Holland instead —, the Stockton star ripped “Borz’s” style in a conversation with Sneako.
“I don’t like that kind of fighting,” Diaz said. “It’s boring to me.”
Chimaev dominated Du Plessis for five rounds, improving to 9-0 in the UFC in only his third fight to go the distance. Chimaev went three rounds against Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns but dismantled the other six with ease, including former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker.
“He’s supposed to be the big scary guy, right?” Diaz said. “And remember when he had him in side control and he’s holding him? Dominating him, right? And then he let’s go and hits him a little bit, little soft punches and sh*t. That’s what people don’t understand about the style. Like, that type of fighter is a scared fighter. He’s scared for his life. …
“He’s afraid that if he let’s go to hit him hard that motherf*cker might get up and get the f*ck away from him, so that’s a scared style to me. He comes off as this big intimidating guy, but it’s a big old scared f*cking child. That’s why I tweeted about I said, he’s not a fighter because you can tell by how scared he is holding him that tight.”
Chimaev will likely defend his UFC title for the first time against the winner of key UFC middleweight main event bouts Nassourdine Imavov vs. Caio Borralho and Anthony Hernandez vs. Reinier de Ridder in September and October, respectively.
As for Diaz, he hasn’t competed since winning a boxing decision over Jorge Masvidal in July 2024, rebounding from a loss to Jake Paul in the squared circle.