Nate Diaz evokes “Scared” Khamzat Chimaev after “boring” UFC 319 Title win

Former UFC star Nate Diaz has provided a sharp criticism of the new middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev and called the Swedish-Cheechen hunter a “frightened” hunter after his dominant but controversial title-winning performance on UFC 319 on August 16, 2025.

Khamzat Chimaev closed by Nate Diaz

‘Borz’ Khamzat Chimaevcaptured de UFC middleweight Championship by beating Dricus du Plessis via a unanimous decision (50-44 on all three scorecards) in the United Center in Chicago. Although the victory was decisive, the criticism of fans and hunters caused the observed lack of action, in which Chimaev heavily trusted on wrestling control for 21 minutes of the 25 -minute fight.

During a live stream with content creator sneako, Diaz explained his disapproval of the fighting style of Chimaev and stated: “I don’t like that kind of fighting. It is boring for me. He is supposed to be the big scary guy, anyway? Think of him in the side control and he has a little soft blows, as he is a bit of blows.

The accusation of the “frightened hunter”

Nate Diaz continued in his criticism and claimed that the cautious approach to Chimaev feared fear instead of dominance. “That is what people don’t understand, the style, that kind of hunter is a frightened hunter. He is afraid of his life that he is releasing. He is so afraid that if he makes him hit hard, that Motherf*might get up and pick him up from him. So that’s a frightened style for me.” Diaz said.

The native Stockton closed his assessment with particularly hard words: “He comes off when this big, intimidating man, but he is a big scared f*cking child. That is why I tweeted about. I said:” He is not a hunter because you can tell how scared he holds him so tightly. “

History between the hunters

The criticism stems from a complicated history between Diaz and Chimaev. The two were originally planned to fight in the main event of UFC 279 in September 2022, but the competition was canceled when Chimaev missed the weight with 7.5 pounds, with a weight of 178.5 pounds instead of the 171-pound of welter weight limite. The Leegmissing forced the UFC to fully restructure the card, with Diaz ultimately instead opposite Tony Ferguson.

The situation was further complicated by Backstage -Razies at the UFC 279 press conference, in which Chimaev, the Diaz and other hunters team were involved, which ultimately led to the cancellation of the event. According to reports, Chimaev started a confrontation with Kevin Holland, which escalated when the entourage of Diaz Water threw bottles after seeing the fight.

Mixed reactions to Chimaev’s performance

Chimaev’s UFC 319 performance has divided the MMA community. While successfully completed 12 Takedowns and 529 total strikes landed compared to the 45 of Du Plessis, the lack of finishing attempts criticized. The crowd of Chicago audibly stuck during parts of the fight, especially when Chimaev maintained control positions without landing significant damage.

Brazilian middleweight Paulo Costa repeated the feelings of Diaz and described Chimaev’s style as “a lot of potential to kill this company” and to call the performance “terrible for the watchers. Costa, who has his own controversial history with Chimaev, argued that the fight would discourage casual fans from viewing MMA.

Nate Diaz’s hypothetical game plan against Chimaev

Despite the canceled fight, Diaz revealed his strategy to be confronted with Chimaev, with the emphasis on his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background. “I was not going to get up when I fought against Khamzat. Let’s go to the ground, mother*ker.

Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker defended the performance of Chimaev, and called critics ‘casuals’ and praised the technical dominance that is displayed against an opponent at the champion level. Whittaker emphasized that such a unilateral control at championship level is rare and should be appreciated by serious MMA fans.