T.J. Dillashaw takes umbrage with coach Sam Calavitta taking blame for Khamzat Chimaev‘s UFC 328 loss.
Chimaev (15-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) lost his middleweight title in a split decision upset against Sean Strickland (31-7 MMA, 18-7 UFC) earlier this month at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. He drastically slowed down in Round 2 but appeared to catch a second wind later in the fight.
Advertisement
The likes of ex-UFC champion Demetrious Johnson questioned if Chimaev was overtrained by Calavitta at the garage, but Dillashaw debunked those claims. He pointed to Chimaev’s weight cut as the problem.
“People don’t know what the hell they’re talking about,” Dillashaw said on Tim Welch’s YouTube channel. “They only get to see what’s on Instagram and then they want to find an excuse of why this guy lost. They don’t want to say anything about when he fought DDP (Du Plessis) and just had endless cardio, right? What it comes down to is a bad weight cut can destroy 12 weeks worth of work completely. And we all know he had a bad weight cut. The weight was not coming off of him. He didn’t want to even follow through with the fight.
“He had to reach down deep and just make it, and I really think that affected him. But also at the same time, at the end of the fight, I feel like he had better cardio than Strickland towards the end of the fight. But yes, did he not stick to his game plan. He didn’t. It’s an unfortunate situation, but they want to point blame when, in all honesty, Sam Calavitta is the one that actually made me pull back, and I know he’s making these other guys pull back if they listen.”
Arman Tsarukyan revealed that Chimaev cut 12 to 13 pounds on the final day which he struggled with. Chimaev initially contemplated light heavyweight but is currently “obsessed” with running things back with Strickland according to his team.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ex-UFC champ defends coach after Khamzat Chimaev’s title loss
