Undefeated star Khamzat Chimaev talks withdrawing from UFC Saudi Arabia, his ongoing feud with a former champion and the crypto controversy.
Last month, MMA fans around the world were bitterly disappointed when Khamzat Chimaev withdrew from his UFC Saudi Arabia main event fight against Robert Whittaker due to a ‘violent illness’, as Dana White described.
Yet aside from a few statements by his manager and various posts on social media calling out other fighters, we’ve not really heard from Chimaev himself on how bad that ‘violent illness’ really was.
Khamzat Chimaev offers his side of the UFC Saudi Arabia withdrawal story
Earlier in the month, Chimaev revealed that he’s finally returned to training in the mountains around Lake Kezenoy-am in Russia, around three weeks after his frustrating withdrawal from UFC Saudi Arabia.
Speaking to Aslanbek Badaev, via Championship Rounds, Chimaev revealed that he’d actually begun suffering health problems in the weeks leading up to his removal from the clash with Whittaker.
“From the fight of immunity, my immunity had dropped very much, and we wanted to rest a little bit, for a week. I rested and I did not come to my senses… I ended up in the hospital and, to be honest, I had severe headaches.
“They said it was stress, there was something there, they explained it to me. I was in the hospital for two days, then I was home. A week [I was] like this. Three days later, the same thing happened again, I ended up in the hospital again.”
According to the undefeated phenom, doctors told him that he needed a “three-week vacation” to recover, but also reaffirmed that this was all going on behind-the-scenes several days before news of his withdrawal hit the airwaves.
“And the news came out so late too, I’ve been sick before this. When the news came out, they said don’t tell anyone. So, when I arrived home, everyone thinks that I’m in the hospital, there was a mouth, headaches, such immunity, I was very weak.”
Chimaev was widely criticized for the withdrawal and had been branded ‘delusional’ by fans after claiming that he should be fighting for the middleweight title whenever he returns – but who could be the one to welcome ‘Borz’ back to the octagon?
‘Borz’ says he’s got unfinished business with a former UFC champion
Assuming that Chimaev is finished competing at welterweight, there are only a handful of potential opponents who the 13-0 contender could be matched up with; one being the former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland.
The pair already have a history together, dating back to a now-infamous sparring session at the Xtreme Couture gym in 2022.
At the time, Strickland came out to suggest that whilst he got the better of Chimaev on the feet, ‘Borz’ had the advantage when it came to the grappling and Jiu-Jitsu; tapping Strickland out on more than one occasion.
Now, in a separate interview with Badaev, Chimaev noted that he still has ‘unfinished business’ with Strickland and that he’d like the opportunity to face him in front of a sold-out arena.
“He [Strickland] said he beat me in sparring, but there were a lot of guys around who saw me choking him and beating him up.
“It was even recorded on camera, so we also have some unfinished business… It would be good to see who’s better inside the octagon.”
Khamzat Chimaev addresses cryptocurrency controversy
It would certainly be an entertaining Fight Week should the UFC choose to matchup Strickland with the undefeated prospect, who has fallen into ill-will with the MMA community following his recent cryptocurrency controversy.
Earlier this month, Chimaev and his team were accused of an attempted ‘pump-and-dump’ scheme after he came out to promote a cryptocurrency; only for the development team to allegedly buyup 78% of the coin’s supply.
In the same interview with Badaev, Chimaev admitted that both he and his manager “acted stupidly” in promoting the coin as they had little knowledge of how the industry actually worked.
“Well, my manager… You can say acted stupidly and I also made a mistake in this crypto. I don’t understand [cryto] at all, I trust my manager. You could say asked people if I could trust them, my people said I can trust them.
“Make this video, like any other athlete, probably doesn’t know what crypto is and how it works. I don’t know for sure; I don’t even have time to look at what it is – I made a video and then made an advertisement as they told me and that they will send me money.”
For a better understanding of the situation, check out ‘ZachXBT’ on social media for the full breakdown of what went on.