Khamzat Chimaev looks surprisingly healthy all of a sudden and fans are shocked.
It was just 20 days back that the Russian fighter pulled out of his fight against Robert Whittaker. The pair were set to fight at UFC Saudi Arabia. However, ‘Borz’ fell violently ill and had to be rushed to the hospital a week before his fight. Ikram Aliskerov stepped in and replaced Chimaev in the main event against the former champion.
Since then, ‘Borz’ has shared regular updates regarding his health, releasing training videos of him. However, his latest video has been the subject of criticism as he went all out in a sparring match against a YouTuber and beat him down.
“All of a sudden he isn’t sick and is able to fight”
All of a sudden he isn’t sick and is able to fight
— Elon Rakhmonov (@ElonRakhmonov) July 11, 2024
One fan sounded confused because they thought Chimaev was reportedly sick and could not fight anytime soon,
“I thought he was sick?”
I thought he was sick?
— Quan (@quan_eth) July 11, 2024
This fan called out Chimaev for his statement earlier of not being able to fight for another year.
“”i’m sick/injured cant fight for another year”
“i’m sick/injured cant fight for another year”
— Andy Scott (@AndyJScott) July 12, 2024
This man was extremely critical of ‘Borz’ and how he handled his UFC Saudi Arabia situation,
“So he’s able to fight, bails on the UFC and releases shitcoins to fight influencers.”
So he’s able to fight, bails on the UFC and releases shitcoins to fight influencers.
— drluke (@luke_alm) July 12, 2024
Similar to the Sean Strickland and Sneako sparring video, one fan thought it was wrong to dish out so much punishment to an untrained fighter,
“This is disgustingly stupid Should be a referee to stop this madness”
This is disgustingly stupid
Should be a referee to stop this madness— Sherif Hassan أبو عبدالله (@Gann540) July 11, 2024
Needless to say, fans aren’t happy with Chimaev and his constant pulling out of fights, messing up main events by showing up 7 lbs heavier, and now trying to sell crypto currency scams.
Chimaev’s team denies involvement in Smash Token
Fans have accused ‘Borz’ of insider trading after he promoted the new Smash token cryptocurrency across his social media accounts. The Fan token plummeted to 0 shortly after his promotional video.
After the crash, fans accused him of deliberately crashing the token. Following all the accusations, his team released a video on X,
“Hi guys! I would like you to pay attention to this video and get answers to all your questions in your head. Take a little of your time to clear up all misunderstandings!”
Hi guys!
I would like you to pay attention to this video and get answers to all your questions in your head.
Take a little of your time to clear up all misunderstandings! pic.twitter.com/5G08ZpiO5t
— Khamzat Chimaev (@KChimaev) July 9, 2024
In the video, a man from the Smash token team spoke out about the crash, saying Chimaev was not directly involved in the process whatsoever. He claimed that they had no direct contact with the UFC fighter and they only spoke to his manager, who then told him to make the videos promoting the token.
Regardless, this is not a good look for Chimaev. Not the crypto, not the discipline issues, and definitely not beating up untrained YouTubers just weeks after being ‘violently ill’. Truth be told, if the Chechen doesn’t step up and fix these issues, he is likely to join the ranks of the biggest ‘What ifs’ in combat sports.