Khamzat Chimaev finally returned to the UFC Octagon this past October at UFC 308 where he picked up the biggest win of his career thus far.
Ahead of his first fight in over a year, Khamzat Chimaev pleased fans when he revealed that he would be making a change to his training regime to avoid further health complications.
‘Borz’ then went on to score a first-round submission over the former middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker, crushing his jaw with a face crank.
Doctors told Khamzat Chimaev he wouldn’t fight again after ongoing health concerns
Despite being one of the most highly regarded blue-chip prospects throughout MMA, Chimaev’s career looked to be over before even getting the chance to begin, when in 2021, he briefly announced his retirement following ongoing health concerns.
Since then, the 30-year-old has been involved in five more fight cancelations, not all of which have been his fault, but he now seemingly has a firm grip on his health.
However, whilst he was going through the unknown health issues, Chimaev has now admitted that doctors told him he would never fight again.
“You get sick, and it’s no secret to anyone, I got sick often. If you take them all together, I’ve had five or six surgeries I think, and seven or eight fractures,” Chimaev began to explain on The Hustle Podcast.
“I’ve broken down many times, doctors said ‘You won’t fight anymore’, so far I’m proving that I will, and before the (Kamaru) Usman fight, I also didn’t tell anyone, I’m not that kind of person who likes to talk about such things.
“I had this problem that was, maybe my opponent also had some problems and what it was like having fever and everything we even considered there not to fight,” the Chechen continued.
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Khamzat Chimaev will be in attendance at UFC 312 in Sydney
With his health complications now in check, Chimaev is hopeful that he may be able to leapfrog over Sean Strickland and be picked to be the next middleweight title challenger.
Current champion, Dricus Du Plessis has admitted that he would prefer to fight ‘Borz’ next over Strickland, however, the promotion is still yet to make their decision known.
‘Stillknocks’ revealed that he was targeting UFC 312 in February for his next defense, however, the plan seems to have changed. Chimaev revealed that he will, though, be in attendance for UFC 312 as he is scheduled for UFC meet & greets as a guest fighter.
“Right now there haven’t been any offers, well I’m planning to go there (UFC 312) I already have a contract to have a couple of meetings there, need to go there according to the contract and do some work, meet with fans there, talk and communicate.
“I haven’t talked to anyone about a fight, nothing like that and my plans are to recover,” Chimaev continued.
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