Neil Magny scoffs at the idea of fighting Khamzat Chimaev in July
Neil Magny appears to be a welterweight that everyone loves to call out. It is inevitable that when you win and you want a top-10 fighter, you call out Magny.
Therefore, it was not a surprise when Sweden’s fast-rising contender, Khamzat Chimaev, became another athlete intent on wanting to fight Magny. The two have been linked for a long time.
Chimaev announced a few weeks earlier that he would retire from active competition after struggling with complications stemming from his battle with COVID-19 a few months ago. The decision was quickly reversed as many notable figures stepped in to convince him otherwise.
Since then, he has been calling out Magny in hopes to face him once he finally returns. The fight might make sense for Chimaev when he returns, but for the time being, Magny is baffled by the call out.
“This man is dealing with COVID complications himself and rather than getting healthy he’s over there telling people ‘Yeah! It’s going to be Neil Magny vs Khamzat Chimaev in July!’ I’m just like ‘dude… get healthy first! I’ll beat your ass any day of the week but please focus on getting healthy first.’ It was getting kind of frustrating,” Magny admitted to MyMMANews. “The idea that Ali [Abdelaziz] and Khamzat actually expect me to sit around on the sidelines for six months to hopefully wait for him to be healthy enough to fight [is] just crazy to me.”
Magny is currently set to take on Geoff Neal at UFC Vegas 26. The matchup came at the right timeframe as he was hoping to return in either May or June.
It is a matchup that makes a lot of sense for both fighters currently. Right now, Magny is fully focused on his upcoming fight on May 8.
“I guess that’s just where the sport’s going these days,” Magny said. “I can’t let that stuff distract me one way or the other. I’m on a mission to become one of the greatest welterweights out there and that’s what I’m doing every single opportunity I get.”
