Will Khamzat Chimaev make it to his UFC 308 fight against Robert Whittaker healthy? Chimaev believes he’s figured out the secret to staying out of the hospital.
Khamzat Chimaev is hard at work training for a No. 1 contender’s match against Robert Whittaker at UFC 308 on October 26th. At least, he hopes it’s a No. 1 contender’s match. And he is being careful not to train too hard, lest he end up hospitalized again.
Chimaev and Whittaker were supposed to fight back in June for the UFC’s debut show in Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, Chimaev ended up being hospitalized multiple times and the fight was called off. No definitive answers have been given on Khamzat’s condition — the general opinion is the Chechen fighter overtrains to the point of physical collapse.
Now he has left Saudi Arabia to return home to Russia where he is training in the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic at the foot of Mount Elbrus. The mountain air has reportedly done wonders for Chimaev’s health, and the location means a new team of trainers including his original hometown wrestling coach.
“They now let me rest and recover properly,” Chimaev said in a new interview with Hustle. “I used to go to the gym and just train til I was done. But then I ended up in the hospital like the last time when I was in hospital three times in a row within three weeks. My immune system went down, I got sick. Now I use a better approach. I work with good coaches, raised a lot of world champions … I am going to take a big step forward.”
Chimaev will need a big step forward if he hopes to last five rounds with Robert Whittaker. Chimaev eked out a majority decision win over Kamaru Usman in October 2023 after blowing through his gas tank in the first round. How he’ll handle a five round fight is a big question, one he needs to answer before fighting for the title. If, that is, the UFC is still going to give him a title shot.
“We’ll see, every time they promise me the No. 1 contender spot, but it turned out there was another contender after that,” he said. “After fighting Usman, I didn’t get a shot. Now for the third time I’ll be the No. 1 contender. We’ll see.”
With Chimaev having so many issues staying healthy, it’s no surprise the UFC is a bit iffy on handing him a title shot. There’s also the issue of his travel restrictions. Due to his close relationship with Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, he’s unable to enter North America. But he’s hopeful he’ll get a shot at middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis.
“For me he is much more convenient than other fighters,” he said of Du Plessis. “We have his wrestling technique figured out. We’ll counter it, knock him down, keep him down, and he knows it. That’s why he’s silent about me.”
First he’ll have to stay healthy and get past Robert Whittaker in Abu Dhabi.