At UFC 308 on October 26, Khamzat Chimaev finally makes his return to the Octagon after over a year out of action when he takes on Robert Whittaker in a five-round co-main event.
Despite being one of the most feared fighters on the current UFC roster, inactivity has hindered Khamzat Chimaev‘s UFC career with him having only fought three times in the past two years.
Earlier this year, ‘Borz’ was scheduled to take on Robert Whittaker in the UFC’s inaugural event in Saudi Arabia, when the two were set to main event, but just a few weeks out, Chimaev once again withdrew.
New Khamzat Chimaev training footage is released prior to UFC 308 fight
Since joining the UFC in 2020, the 30-year-old has consistently suffered from health issues to the point where he considered an early retirement from the sport.
After contracting COVID-19, Chimaev withdrew from several scheduled fights against Leon Edwards, and the aftereffects are seemingly still taking their toll on the Chechen.
Having said that, earlier this year, ‘Borz’ reunited with his former coach and revealed that he is now training properly instead of overtraining, which he claims is the reason for his constant health complications.
Chimaev admitted that he used to train to exhaustion but now his coaches are letting him rest and recover properly in between rounds and training sessions.
Earlier this Monday, Chimaev’s teammate, Ildir Aisin posted a video of the 30-year-old during one of his training sessions in which the Chechen was seen rapidly shadowboxing.
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Fans react to Khamzat Chimaev training footage claiming he looks faster than ever
Chimaev undoubtedly looks in great shape ahead of his huge middleweight fight against Whittaker, however, some fans are still fairly skeptical that we’ll see Chimaev at UFC 308.
“Just hope Khamzat Chimaev stays healthy. We all know how talented he is, he just can’t stay healthy to show it in the cage,” one fan commented.
Another fan was entirely impressed with Chimaev’s training effort, commenting on X: “I feel like he’s going to beat Rob and make it look easy for some reason.”
Whittaker stands as his toughest test so far, despite his last outing having come against former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, who was stepping in on short notice.
“He’s going to demolish the division,” another fan commented on X.
Although both Chimaev and Whittaker are hopeful that the winner of their bout will go on to challenger Dricus Du Plessis for the title, UFC CEO Dana White recently confirmed that Sean Strickland is next up for the South African.
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