UFC prospect Khamzat Chimaev feared he had cancer after coughing up blood.
Chimaev has been battling symptoms relating to long-COVID and had to recently scrap a main event fight with top welterweight contender, Leon Edwards.
The undefeated Swedish prospect shocked the MMA world earlier this month when he announced his retirement at just 26-years-old.
According to his manager Ali Abdelaziz, Chimaev has already ended his brief retirement. The UFC fan favourite is planning to begin training once again in April with the hopes of fighting Neil Magny in June.
Chimaev travelled to Las Vegas in order to get what he thought would be the best medical treatment. However, after being advised by doctors to begin training again Chimaevs symptoms got worryingly worse.
“Yes, (the medical care in Las Vegas) was good but they made me train.” Chimaev told RT Sport. “I was doing good at first, then they told me that I could start cardio training. And I felt sick again. I went to the bathroom and started coughing up blood. That just messed up my mind a bit. Honestly, it scared me… cancer? Like, ‘I have been sick so long, why doesn’t it go away?’ Different thoughts were going through my mind. Plus I was alone there in Las Vegas, struggling to overcome it all.” (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)
Chimaev burst onto the main stage in 2020. The multi-weight prospect came out of nowhere to pick up two wins in 10 days on Fight Island in the summer months of 2020. In September he scored a spectacular one-punch knockout against long-time UFC middleweight, Gerald Meerschaert at UFC Vegas 11.
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