Khamzat Chimaev's manager Majdi Shammas said 'persistent illness' has made it impossible for the UFC fighter to be prepared for his scheduled fight against Robert Whittaker on June 22nd in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Shammas revealed in an Instagram post that Chimaev has been battling the illness for major parts of camp and could not be cured in time.
"He has been in and out of hospitals several times. The condition has been kept within the team, since everyone has been absolutely committed to finding a solution," Shammas writes. "Although all available options have been thoroughly considered, it has now come to a point where the team has mutually agreed that it is not possible to carry on like this. Stepping into the cage not properly prepared against such a formidable opponent as Robert is unfortunately impossible.
"...But everything happens for a reason and god has his own plans, the goals remain the same. Khamzat and team will now get to the bottom of the cause of the issues, and he will come back even stronger. This is unfortunately a part of the fight game and as soon as Khamzat is healthy, his much-anticipated return to the Octagon will be immediately rescheduled."
Chimaev’s training partner, UFC lightweight Guram Kutateladze, reposted an image on his Instagram story showing Chimaev in a hospital.
UFC president Dana White announced that Whittaker will instead face rising middleweight talent Ikram Aliskerov in a new headliner. The 31-year-old Russian is 15-1 in MMA with his lone loss ironically to Chimaev five years ago in a 180-pound catchweight bout before either had debuted in the UFC.
Chimaev last fought at UFC 294 in October, when he improved to 13-0 in mixed martial arts thanks to a three-round majority decision win over former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. Usman took that fight on just 10 days’ notice and was making his middleweight debut. He holds other notable wins over Gilbert Burns and Kevin Holland.
It has been a tough time for Chimaev during his time with the UFC, as he has had to deal with countless health issues.
After winning three fights in just two months back in 2020, Chimaev was then sidelined for a year after testing positive for COVID-19 and continually dealing with the longstanding effects from the illness.
The issues stemming from his COVID-19 diagnosis forced him to miss two scheduled fights against Leon Edwards. Chimaev’s management team did not disclose whether his current illness is related or if this is a separate medical issue.
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