Chimaev opened up on health issues in previous fights, his expectations against Whittaker in Abu Dhabi, and whether he believes a title shot is next if he wins.
Khamzat Chimaev has made it to UFC 308 fight week after suffering another illness that took him out of the main event of UFC Fight Night: Saudi Arabia.
Chimaev seems healthy and happy and just as confident as ever, although he was cautious when it came to suggesting he’d run through his opponent Robert Whittaker with ease.
“Anyone on the top could be hard fight,” he said at UFC 308 media day when asked for a prediction. “Somebody could be easy fight. We will see. Maybe it’s easy fight. Maybe it’s hard fight for me. So we don’t know.”
“He knows how to lose. We don’t know. So I’m ready for Whittaker.”
There’s been a lot of talk about “The Reaper” just having to survive Chimaev’s early blitz before his cardio failed. “Borz” dismissed that criticism of his game, saying he was dealing with more health issues when his gas tank sputtered against Kamaru Usman in his last fight.
Khamzat Chimaev is ready for war against Robert Whittaker at #UFC308:
“He knows how to lose, we don’t” pic.twitter.com/W3V8bvTetw
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) October 23, 2024
“I’ve been pushing from first second to last second in my sparring, and I don’t think it would be different in the cage here,” Chimaev said. “[No one] said anything about my health before the Usman fight. Everyone thinks Khamzat went in the cage healthy. That wasn’t it. I was sick in the morning before that fight.”
“I don’t find excuses, I don’t cry,” he added. “Like, I had a short, short notice fight. I’m also jumping in short notice with my fights, you know? We’re all fighters, we do not don’t need to find some excuses. If I lose lose in fight, yeah, I’ll just shut up and go home.”
“Borz” did say he hoped to beat Whittaker so convincingly that he’d steal Sean Strickland’s No. 1 contender spot.
“I hope so,” he said. “But they said that before as well when I beat Gilbert Burns. [That was a] long time, some 2 or 3 years ago. I didn’t [get] my chance after that. After that, Usman. I beat Usman and I didn’t get the title. But we’ll see.
“I’m happy with the money. I’m making more money than any champ as well.”