Khamzat Chimaev was recently removed from his upcoming bout with welterweight contender Leon Edwards and fight fans really don’t know when they might see “Borz” again.
Chimaev, 26, won his first three trips to the Octagon late last year to earn a massive opportunity to fight “Rocky” this past December at UFC Vegas 17. Unfortunately, Edwards tested positive for COVID-19 and the bout was rescheduled for UFC Fight Island 8 in January.
In late December, it was revealed that Chimaev had tested positive for the virus and forced to withdraw from that matchup. The welterweight pairing was once again rescheduled for UFC Vegas 21 next month, but Chimaev continues to experience symptoms from his battle with COVID-19 and is unable to fight.
Unlike Edwards, who could now find himself in a No. 1 contender’s bout opposite Colby Covington, Chimaev hasn’t completely recovered from coronavirus and is unsure when he might be able to return to action. It’s been quite alarming, especially for a young fighter who fought three times in just two months last year, and an unfortunate truth that COVID-19 can deplete the best of us.
In a recent video submission to Front Kick (shown below), Chimaev’s manager Majdi Shammas reveals some shocking details about his client’s current condition and the heartbreaking decision to pull out of the Edwards fight for a second time.
“Those are the e-mails that we don’t like to send about clients,” Shammas said in the video. “But it is what it is and there’s nothing we can do. We tried to come back this Tuesday. He insisted that he wanted to train. Then we tried and it failed.
“He was really bad, you know? He didn’t even do two rounds straight. He did one round and then rested. He started coughing, he started feeling ill again, and we had to cancel the training. He even went to the ambulance, to the hospital.”
Chimaev was hoping to defeat Edwards and put his name in the mix for a UFC title shot in 2021. It would have been one of the quickest rises to stardom in recent UFC history and a victory that could have truly defined Chimaev’s young career.
Sadly, “Borz” is experiencing some serious lasting effects from COVID-19 and is finding it very difficult to return to his normal training. In recent sessions, Chimaev has been complaining about chest pains, fatigue, and can even be seen violently coughing in the above video. Shammas has already contacted UFC officials to help get Chimaev a CT scan and determine proper treatment.
“He complained that he had some chest pains after the training, so we gonna check the heart as well,” Shammas said. “We have been in and out of hospitals so many times now. Nowadays, lately, the last weeks it’s crazy. The other day, when he finished the training on Tuesday, he couldn’t even walk up to his room. He didn’t even have the energy to go up to his room. He fell asleep in the lobby.”
At one point, Chimaev’s symptoms became so bad that he thought he was going to die after being rushed to the hospital.
“He can’t train,” he continued. “His friends called me, ‘Hey, Khamzat can’t even speak.’ His fever is so high, his headache is so much, muscle pain and everything. Then an ambulance came and got him to the hospital. Even when he was in the hospital, he called me, when he called me he thought he was going to die. It was really bad.”
For now, Chimaev’s biggest fight will be to kick COVID-19 in 2021 and get back to the training he’ll need to climb the UFC rankings. Before that happens fans shouldn’t expect to see “Borz” inside of the cage anytime soon.