Dana White on Chimaev’s disease: What did the UFC boss say?
The fighter, who’s expected to make history in the UFC, is experiencing a new worrying health episode, while the future for ‘Borz’ seems discouraging.
This past Thursday was one of the worst days in UFC history. The afternoon began with the withdrawal of Khamzat Chimaev from the UFC Fight Night main event in Saudi Arabia and ended with the rescheduling of the McGregor vs. Chandler and Hill vs. Ulberg fights, which left UFC 303 without a main event clash.
With so little reaction time, the company contacted Ikram Aliskerov to replace Borz and booked Alex Pereira vs Jiri Prochazka and Diego Lopes vs Brian Ortega to bring back the excitement to the event.
It’s not the first time Khamzat Chimaev has had issues shortly before his fights. His problems regarding his political ideology and health -apparently, as a coronavirus pandemic consequence- have led him to fight the same number of times he did in his first 65 days as a UFC fighter.
Dana confirms Chimaev’s health issues
As is usually the case in these cases, the UFC president Dana White posted a video on social media explaining the last-minute event changes. When announcing Aliskerov’s name to feature in the Saudi Arabia main event, Dana White confirmed that “Khamzat is violently ill” and wished him a speedy recovery.
Minutes after White’s video release, Mukhammad Eskirkhanov, Chimaev’s training partner, uploaded a photo to his Instagram, where ‘Borz’ appears lying in a hospital bed, with Guram Kutelazde sitting next to his colleague in an image that has left UFC fans cold.
Chimaev last entered the octagon in October to take on Kamaru Usman, a fight that ended with the undefeated 30-year-old fighter with his hand raised via majority decision.