Khamzat Chimaev Promises Return After Withdrawing From UFC Saudi Arabia Due to Illness

The story of Khamzat Chimaev in the UFC is not panning out as fans as well as the UFC brass would have expected. After an explosive start to his UFC career, visa issues, injuries, and illnesses have plagued the Russian MMA artist. The most recent example of such a setback was his withdrawal from the Robert Whittaker fight due to being ‘violently ill’. While Dana White remains uncertain about Chimaev’s future, ‘Borz’ issued a message for his fans on social media.

‘Borz’ is currently back in his hometown recovering from his illness. However, he took time out to share an encouraging message on his Instagram stories for those awaiting his return to the octagon. The story in question contained a picture of Chimaev on the mats with a caption that said,

“Will be back”.

Chimaev was supposed to headline the UFC’s debut in Saudi Arabia against Robert Whittaker. However, last week, White confirmed that Chimaev is violently ill and therefore, will not be able to compete. Unfortunately, this marks his sixth fight cancellation in the UFC since he joined. For more context, Chimaev has one fight more in the UFC (7) than he has cancellations (6), and this will severely affect his star power in the promotion moving forward.

Another issue to keep in mind is that Chimaev is not allowed to enter the US. Therefore, he can only compete on cards that the UFC organizes outside the States. This means that the number of opportunities for Chimaev to compete in the UFC once he is healed is severely limited. Hence, there is a good chance ‘Borz’ will not return to UFC action this year.

Dana White shares his frustrations on Khamzat Chimaev’s situation

In a recent interview with Jim Rome, Dana White shared his frustrations about the situation with ‘Borz’. White stated that every time he is close to fighting, ‘Borz’ falls sick and ends up withdrawing. The UFC head stated that to make things more complicated, Chimaev is back in Russia and unable to enter the USA due to which the UFC doctors in the States can not take a look at him and determine what is wrong.

This makes it even more complicated for White to find a solution, and the UFC CEO went on to brand Chimaev as ‘out of touch’. Needless to say, both Chimaev and the UFC will have to find a solution soon to continue his career in the promotion.