Following his official withdrawal from a scheduled UFC Fight Night Saudi Arabia headliner this weekend, the fighting future of Khamzat Chimaev has been called into question once again – with Dana White more than flustered about where the Chechen goes from here.
Chimaev, the current number ten ranked middleweight contender, has been sidelined since October of last year, improving to 13-0 with a controversial majority decision win over former welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman.
And slated to take main event honors in Riyadh this weekend, unbeaten contender, Chimaev was forced from a bout with former divisional champion, Robert Whittaker – after he was struck down with a case of food poisoning.
Replaced by former opponent, Ikram Aliskerov – who now takes on Auckland-born favorite, Whittaker at UFC Saudi Arabia, Chimaev has been ruled from another scheduled return to the Octagon, seeing momentum halted once more.
Dana White unsure of Khamzat Chimaev’s future
Sharing his thoughts on Chimaev’s exit from the Riyadh card – White, who described the former as “violently ill” – claimed Chimaev seems to get so close to the finishing line before faltering.
“I saw this kid (Khamzat Chimaev)on ‘Fight Island’, he wanted to fight the next weekend,” Dana White told Jim Rome. “I let him fight the next weekend. He looked incredible. He’s been on this tear and lately, it’s been hard to get him into the Octagon.”
“Every time he gets close to fighting, he get’s really sick,” White continued. “I don’t know [how long it’s going to be before he fights again]. I don’t know what to say. It’s not like he’s over here in this country [United States], and we’ve had doctors here look at him or anything like that. He’s sort of out of touch, so it’s tough to deal with.”
Already offered a route back to active competition, Chimaev was once more called out by Paulo Costa – whom he has been scheduled to fight before, with the Brazilian claiming a matchup with him would bring back his “ferocity” of old.
When do you think we see Khamzat Chimaev return to the Octagon?