Khamzat Chimaev made fairly an affect delivering three beautiful performances inside his first two months with the UFC.
Sadly for followers, Chimaev’s exercise over the previous few years has slowed dramatically with the two-division fighter solely competing 4 instances because the begin of 2021. He was scheduled to conflict with former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in the primary occasion at UFC Saudi Arabia on Saturday, however the undefeated Chechen was pressured off the cardboard on the final minute after falling unwell.
UFC CEO Dana White acknowledged that Chimaev is severely sick proper now, however the promotion nonetheless has no actual perception on what precisely went unsuitable with him.
“The issue is we actually don’t know [what’s wrong],” White informed The Jim Rome Present. “Each time this man will get near a battle, I noticed video footage of him on the bottom violently unwell. He was hospitalized once more. He hadn’t skilled for 3 or 4 days or 5 days, I don’t know precisely what the quantity was however we couldn’t put him right into a battle subsequent weekend.”
Chimaev has famously handled long run issues stemming from a earlier bout of COVID, with the 30-year-old fighter even hinting at retirement as he tried to get well from the illness. He finally bounced again however inactivity has killed lots of the momentum that Chimaev constructed up, particularly after asserting a everlasting transfer as much as 185 kilos.
Chimaev defeated former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in a back-and-forth affair at 185 kilos this previous November, however hasn’t fought once more since. This newest delay provides much more query marks about Chimaev’s future and there’s no telling when which may change.
“I noticed this child on Struggle Island, he needed to battle the following weekend,” White mentioned. “I let him battle the following weekend. He appeared unimaginable. He’s been on this tear and currently it’s been onerous to get him into the octagon.
“Each time he will get near preventing, he will get actually sick. I don’t know [how long he’s going to be out]. I don’t know what to say. It’s not like he’s over right here on this nation and we’ve had medical doctors right here have a look at him or something like that. He’s kind of out of contact so it’s powerful to take care of.”
With Chimaev out, the UFC moved on to Whittaker taking over extremely touted prospect Ikram Aliskerov, who holds a 2-0 file within the octagon with each fights ending by knockout. Aliskerov’s solely profession loss got here to Chimaev again in 2019, however now he has an opportunity to leap over his former foe within the rankings with a win over Whittaker on Saturday.
