Neil Magny was the first one to call out Khamzat Chimaev, but the contest could not materialize as Chimaev is now set to face Leon Edwards.
Khamzat Chimaev, who is apparently UFC’s biggest revelation of the year, in his short spell has cemented his spot among the top concerned fighters. Though, he is still unranked, yet with the quickest win hat-trick record, Khamzat is seemingly a force that is not willing to ebb, and is now set to face Leon Edwards on December 19.
While, the 26-year-old competed 3 times in his first 66 days in the promotion, for his fourth bout of the year which was also predefined to be the headliner of a fight night, it took some efforts from the UFC’s side to get an opponent on board for him.
When the hunt for a ranked competitor was on, Khamzat tried to take matters in his own hands and called out certain fighters via social media. With his clinical finishes, Chimaev ostensibly proved to be a threat for every fighter in the promotion, and hence why his callings remained unanswered. However, a certain Welterweight, Neil Magny emerged as the odd one out, and in-turn became the first one to challenge the Swede.
All this time Khamzat cut out an eager figure to get back in the ring, but for some reason remained quiet over Magny’s offer, and with the passage of time Khamzat is now scheduled to square off against the No.3 Welterweight.
Also read: UFC News: Stipe Miocic Vs. Francis Ngannou 2 Targeted For March
Neil Magny’s Reaction On Khamzat Vs. Leon
In an interview with ESPN, Neil Magny revealed that the match between him and Khamzat was in works, but ultimately fell through.
“I thought it was a done deal.” Magny said, “I literally got a phone from my manager on Thursday, he was like ‘Hey man this is done deal, we got you the fight, we are good to go’. And in the next day I leave sparring after like making adjustments and figuring out who my training partner is going to be and that kind of thing, made adjustments getting for camp for Khamzat and on my way home from gym, I started getting notifications that he’s fighting Leon Edwards, I’m just scratching my head like wait, how did that even come about.”
The Haitian Sensation also threw light on what might have been the reason behind replacing him with Rocky. “The only thing I can possibly think of that caused this fight not to go through is–His team thought it was a better match-up for him.
“I am not going to sit there to my own horn and say that fighting No.8 guy is better than fighting a No.3 guy, but I’m pretty sure his team might have thought that Leon Edwards was the easier fight for him. He matched up better against Leon Edwards than he would against me.”
Click Here For More UFC News
