Khamzat Chimaev has yet to challenge a top-ranked middleweight properly. The inaugural event in Saudi Arabia was supposed to change that. Old troubles found Chimaev again as health condition forced him to pull out. UFC CEO Dana White has had enough of all this, as seen by his recent withdrawal from the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia.
Khamzat Chimaev announced that he couldn’t fight Robert Whittaker. Dana White then went online and addressed that Chimaev was ‘violently ill’ and wouldn’t recover in time. Recently, White did an interview with Jim Rome, where he went into detail regarding Chimaev’s illness. According to the UFC CEO, he doesn’t know about it as he hasn’t talked with ‘Borz.’
Lately it’s been hard to get him into the octagon. Every time he gets close to fighting, he gets really sick. I don’t know what to say. It’s not like he’s over here in this country and we’ve had doctors look at him or anything like that. He’s sort of out of touch, so, it’s tough to deal with.Â
Dana White via The Jim Rome Show
Chimaev last fought at UFC 294 in October last year, narrowly defeating former champion Kamaru Usman, a late-notice step-in via majority decision. He has not fought since then due to ongoing visa issues. Following his victory against Usman, the organization scheduled him for a number-one contender fight against ‘The Reaper.’ Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned.
While Dana White doesn’t have any answers, Chimaev’s close friend has revealed that the Chechen suffered from food poisoning. On top of it, Chimaev’s manager also shut down rumors about his retirement from the sport. After Chimaev’s departure, Robert Whittaker has a new opponent for the Saudi Arabia fight, and the Aussie is really concerned.Â
Robert Whittaker believes Ikram Aliskerov is a bigger challenge than Khamzat ChimaevÂ
In the midst of all this, Robert Whittaker accepted to fight Ikram Aliserov in a five-round middleweight clash in Saudi Arabia. Aliserov was supposed to be the co-main event attraction at UFC Vegas 93 but now will travel to fight Whittaker on short notice.Â
Robert Whittaker is cautious about Khamzat Chimaev’s replacement, Ikram Aliskerov (via Imago)While talking about his new opponent, Robert Whittaker revealed that he is excited about the challenge but is also cautious. The style matchup may have worked well against Chimaev. However, the same cannot be said for the fight against Aliskerov.
He’s a dangerous guy and he’s got a really good skill set. And the odds display that, I understand the kind of fight it’s gonna be. In someway it could be harder than Chimaev.
Robert Whittaker via MMA Junkie
It remains to be seen if the winner of this fight could potentially challenge the winner of the upcoming Israel Adesanya vs. Dricus Du Plessis title fight at UFC 305. With Sean Strickland also in the picture, anything can happen in the upcoming months. Nevertheless, all this has definitely kept the middleweight division entertaining.Â
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