Dana White attempted to convince everyone, in the lead-up to UFC 279, that a fight between Nate Diaz, who was unranked and had not won in three years, and Khamzat Chimaev, a strong contender at welterweight, made perfect sense. Chimaev was the top contender at welterweight.
Dan Hardy did not believe the statements made by the UFC president back then, and he surely does not believe them today.
Nate Diaz Engaged in Combat with Khamzat Chimaev
What exactly it was is common knowledge. Hardy said this on a recent episode of the Freedom Pact podcast. “We all understood what it was, he added.
The was supposed to take place but for whatever reason did not end up taking place. But what did we get from Dana the week after that? It is a fortunate thing the fight did not end up taking place. That would have been a very unfortunate outcome.’
Like absolutely, man. Because I now understand that what you are selling is hogwash, there is no longer any need for me to fall for it. You are quite competent in this area. It was an effort to kill the individual. They were attempting to bury him (Diaz) before he terminated his contract with the UFC.
After Diaz spent an entire year requesting his release from the UFC while they could not agree on the last bout of his contract, a lot of people saw the issue from Hardy’s point of view.
This is because Hardy won the fight. In the end, the UFC was successful in convincing Diaz to take the Chimaev bout; nevertheless, Diaz made it quite apparent that he had no intention of re-signing with the organization.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) continued to go ahead with Chimaev vs. Diaz as the main event for UFC 279. However, the fight did not go off as planned since Chimaev was far above the 171-pound limit.
Diaz prevailed against Tony Ferguson in the rescheduled main event of UFC 279, and as a result, he is no longer bound to any promotion. Even though everything turned out nicely for Diaz and the UFC in the end, Hardy still cannot get the thought that things might have been different.
Hardy Said the Chimaev-Diaz Fight Resembled an Execution
Hardy expressed his opinion that the bout between Chimaev and Diaz seemed more like an execution than anything else. And it gave me the impression that you have one person or a tiny number of individuals. They are utilizing one portion of the roster to punish the other half of the roster, she said.
That is not a sport at all. That is called a dogfight. It is just unattractive. Because I like playing this sport so much, and because this would be detrimental to it, I find it to be an unsightly thing that makes me uneasy.
Imagine the extent of Nate’s injuries if they had been much worse. It would have immediately placed a shade over the UFC, it would have been all over the press horribly, and it would have made all of us feel uncomfortable because we knew it was occurring.
Immediately, it would have cast a shadow over the UFC. It was a stroke of good luck that the MMA gods smiled down on us on that particular day. On the other hand, I cannot help but think that there was some covert intervention going on to prevent it from taking place.
Because I believe that the UFC, the closer they got to the fight, the more they recognized how badly they were going to bury themselves if Nate was injured.
Hardy, who was fired from his position as a UFC commentator in the early part of 2021 due to a reported argument with a female employee, has higher standards for the UFC in terms of how it conducts itself as the most successful mixed martial arts company in the world.
Finishing Words
According to my perspective, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has already established itself as the icon of the sport. Hardy said that there is no question about this, and he does not believe it for one second. So that any other organization will come close to what the UFC is and what they are accomplishing.
There is no doubt about this. They will always have the title of the most prestigious competition in mixed martial arts. They need just to behave like they are in the premiership. They ought to conduct themselves in the manner of the most important league in the sport. They have a responsibility to protect the integrity of the sport.
