Everyone is clamouring to step into the octagon with the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev, but that was not always the case throughout his career.
The Chechen fighter is taking on Dricus du Plessis in the main event of UFC 319, battling for the UFC Middleweight title for the first time in his career.
Khamzat Chimaev has positioned himself as a top star in the promotion, with fighters queuing up to try to end his undefeated streak on PPV before they switch to TV only in 2026 with UFC’s $7.7 billion Paramount deal.
However, that was not always the case. Once upon a time, the fighter struggled for opponents before a fight against a former world champion was cancelled three times in devastating fashion.
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Everyone was turning down Khamzat Chimaev before he agreed to fight Leon Edwards
In 2020, Leon Edwards was looking to force his way into contention for the UFC Welterweight title and identified Chimaev as the way to do it.
Chimaev had won his first three UFC bouts, having knocked out Gerald Meerschaert before booking a December 2020 clash with the #3 ranked Welterweight.
That fight was Edwards throwing out a lifeline to “Borgz”, as he admitted on The Joe Rogan Experience that nobody wanted to fight Chimaev at that time, being scared he’d knock them out to continue his undefeated streak.
However, Edwards saw it as a chance to catapult himself into title contention and took the fight for the December 19 UFC card.
Edwards said: “He was weird, right? Because we were two weeks before that, Dana White came out and was like, ‘Nah, he’s never gonna fight Leon or anyone in the top 5, I’m too high-ranked for him.’
“But then next week he’s like, ‘Leon, you want to fight him?’ I was like, ‘You just said I’m too high-ranked for him.’
So it’s like, ‘Okay, you got the most hype in the division now that I could pick it back off to get to a world title shot, right?’
“And this was a kid they don’t know – they’re building him up as this kid that can’t be beaten, he’s tough. And so I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll go out there, I’ll fight him.
“When I beat him, I’ll fight for the world title.’ And that was my plan, right? To use this hype they’re building around him to get me to a world title shot.”
Khamzat Chimaev pulled out of fighting Leon Edwards three times before the bout was cancelled
Unfortunately, the fight between Chimaev and Edwards never took place, despite how many times Dana White booked it.
The original December 19 bout was cancelled because Edwards tested positive for COVID, which, in the middle of the pandemic, meant that he could be nowhere near the octagon.
It was rescheduled for the beginning of January, but it turned out that rumours of Chimaev also testing positive for COVID were true.
The undefeated Chechen was still recovering and had spent time in the hospital due to the illness, so the fight was rescheduled for March 13, 2021, in an attempt to get this doomed match on the card.
However, it became a cancelled trilogy of fights between Chimaev and Edwards. The bout seemed to be cursed as Chimaev was still suffering from the lingering effects of COVID and pulled out of the bout once again.
Belal Muhammad stepped in to replace him, fighting to a no-contest after Edwards hit him with an accidental eye poke, and the fight between Edwards and Chimaev fizzled out and never actually happened.