UFC 279: Pros react to Khamzat Chimaev quickly stopping Kevin Holland

See how fellow fighters reacted to Khamzat Chimaev not taking long to submit Kevin Holland in a fight with controversial circumstances.

Khamzat Chimaev has found himself in the center of attention a lot during the madness of fight week. It was his confrontation with Kevin Holland, combined with missing weight by 7.5 pounds for his scheduled UFC 279 main event with Nate Diaz, that led to the creation of the co-main event between him and Holland.

Despite all that, Chimaev continued to be the dominating fighter he usually is, needing just over two minutes to put Holland away.

Chimaev bursted out through the gate and took Holland down, scrambling with him before locking him in a D’Arce choke and getting the submission.

UFC 279: Pros react to Khamzat Chimaev vs. Kevin Holland

https://twitter.com/NeilMagny/status/1568811159935156229?s=20&t=8DO1iC7BkTj0NXVpbzFx9w

Chimaev raised eyes upon his UFC debut in 2020 through his finishes of John Phillips and Rhys McKee within a 10-day span (a UFC record), plus an 11-second knockout of Gerald Meerschaert less than two months after that.

After bouts with COVID and retirement considerations, Chimaev returned with a submission of Li Jingliang at UFC 267 and a decision win over Gilbert Burns at UFC 273.

Chimaev was originally scheduled to face Nate Diaz in tonight’s main event. But his significant weight miss led to a shake-up of the card, putting him against Holland in the co-main event.

Holland won a UFC-record five fights in a single calendar year in 2020, topped off by a win over Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at UFC 256. He went 0-2 (1 no-contest) in 2021 before righting the ship back this year thus far with finishes of Alex Oliveira and Tim Means.

UFC 279: Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson takes place on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Follow along with FanSided MMA, who is on site, for all your news and highlights.