On January 20, Neil Magny will compete in his third main event in the UFC, facing Michael Chiesa in a five-round welterweight match between two of the top 10 fighters in the ranking.
But the main seat opened a few days ago, after the original main event was canceled, when Khamzat Chimaev was unable to compete due to persistent problems after a battle with COVID-19. Despite only three fights in the promotion and only one win in the welterweight division, Chimaev was having the opportunity of a main event against an opponent in the top five, Leon Edwards.
Even before the Chimaev vs. Edwards fight was postponed, many fighters who had been clamoring for the spotlight for several years were understandably upset that a newcomer with victories over opponents with a combined UFC record of 7-13 was hosting a main event against a candidate to the legitimate title.
Don’t count on Magny among them, though, because despite being happy to share the main event with Chiesa, he saw no problem in Chimaev receiving so much attention after a few fights in the UFC.
“At the end of the day, if you think about some of the complaints that fighters have as a whole, it’s being able to be marketed by the UFC, being able to be paid more by the UFC,” explained Magny when speaking to MMA Brigando. “So the fact that Chimaev managed to do what he did in the UFC in just three fights, I say more strength to you.
“For him to get to the point where he is fighting some of these guys from the top 10, from the top five, if he believes he can go out with these guys, for sure come and test him. I will not sit there and say that you are not ready for this. “
Before his fight against Chiesa was scheduled, Magny actually volunteered to face Chimaev when it looked like there was no qualifying welterweight willing to accept the challenge when the UFC wanted to offer him a spot in the main event.
Magny never gave up on any opportunity that the UFC gave him and certainly wasn’t going to start with Chimaev.
“If you believe you can walk with the best guys in the category and the UFC wants to make this fight, I would welcome this opportunity 100%,” said Magny. “I would either beat him to the point where everyone realized that he has more work to do or the guy would be lucky and beat me and he could really say that I told you I was ready for it.”
In many ways, Magny compares Chimaev to a famous newcomer entering a sport like football or basketball from the draft, where athletes routinely sign multi-million dollar contracts before they even put a ball in a hoop or score a touchdown like a pro.
In the long run, the 33-year-old veteran hopes that more fighters will be able to take advantage of terms similar to those that Chimaev conquered on the scene and create the kind of exaggeration in which he was confronted with No. 3 ranked in his fourth fight with the promotion.
“I think these are the moments and these are the changes that will allow our sport to be more comparable to other sports like basketball or football, where these younger guys, these newbies, are able to get these huge contracts right from the start and sort of increase the payment status for all athletes who are under that specific banner, ”explained Magny. “You have guys just out of high school, fresh out of college who can play for the NBA, for the NFL and they can play against some of the best guys who have been in the league for five, six, ten years or more for some of these guys .
“You can go out with these guys or not. I think bringing fresh blood, a new face like Chimaev in the UFC helps everyone in all aspects. Not just him, not just the experienced fighters, but all the other fighters who will come after him too. “
As the old saying goes that high tide raises all boats, Magny believes that the impact of fighters like Chimaev will only help other athletes to join the UFC in the future.
“It raises the bar, raises the bar for new fighters entering the UFC,” said Magny. “At the moment, it is quite normal for most fighters who arrive at the UFC to get this contract in the [$10,000 to show and $10,000 to win] and depending on the progress of the fights, they can advance from there.
“But if guys like Chimaev can come to the UFC and make big waves and make the payment jump to [$20,000 to show, $20,000 to win] or whatever it is, I think it’s positive for everyone ”.
That said, Magny is obviously more than happy to fill the vacancy left by Chimaev as he seeks to start 2021 with a big win to create an even better year for himself.
“This is a great opportunity for Michael Chiesa and I to go out and prove why we are the two best welterweights in the category,” said Magny. “It was kind of overshadowed by the Khamzat hype and Leon Edwards being inactive, kind of caught the headlines going into this fight. I feel that everything happened the right way for Chiesa and I to go out and shine ”.