Seems like just yesterday when Smesh Bros, the unlikely alliance between UFC middleweights Khamzat Chimaev and Darren Till, were shooting guns and screeching tires in the streets of Las Vegas — even if the bromance was killing Khamzat’s mystique.
Sigh … good times.
These days, Chimaev is too sick to fight, recently withdrawing from his Robert Whittaker main event at UFC Saudi Arabia this weekend on ABC. Speculation that “Borz” was overtraining was quickly refuted by top middleweight prospect Bo Nickal.
“Yeah that dude’s losing his aura a bit,” Nickal said on YouTube. “He just needs to keep freaking winning and not doing this crap. That’s what I do, don’t get sick. I don’t think he’s overtraining, I think he’s over-partying. Probably. I dunno, what else would it be? I’ve just heard rumors about him and Till, stuff like … crazy stuff. Yeah.”
Those “lies” didn’t sit well with “The Gorilla.”
“Why is my name getting dragged through the mud? I haven’t seen Khamzat for a long time and he is devoted to his religion,” Till wrote on social media. “Please guys don’t speak out of turn and on rumors you don’t know are true or not. Just hype a fight in a different way. We don’t tell lies.”
Sorry Darren, but even shameless UFC champs tell lies.
Till, 31, was released by the promotion back in early 2023 after losing three straight and four of his last five. “The Gorilla” was expected to make his “sweet science” debut next month on Netflix; however, that fight is currently on hold after this scheduling conflict.
A timeline for Chimaev’s return has yet to be established.