Khamzat Chimaev Could Make His Return At UFC Abu Dhabi

Khamzat Chimaev is allegedly trying to make a return to October. 

Chimaev pulled out of his fight with Robert Whittaker, which took place on June 22 at UFC Saudi Arabia. It was the UFC’s first card in the Kingdom, making it a major setback for the UFC. Chimaev withdrew with an illness, and Ikram Aliskerov stepped in. Aliskerov was undefeated, with a 3-0 record in the UFC. He had stopped all of his opponents in the first round. While that may have been the case, Whittaker stopped his opponent in the first round with a brutal uppercut. 

“I told everybody, I’m the boogeyman, I’m the best in the world and I’m the most dangerous matchup for anyone in the division. I’m the most dangerous middleweight in the world. I’ll take a fight anywhere, anytime, and I proved it tonight and I proved it again. I’ll fight anyone. I told everybody in the lead-up to this fight, I’m going to lean on my experience and that’s exactly what it was,” Whittaker said. “I’ve been in this position a hundred times. I understand what I’m doing. I’m going to be the hunter and that’s exactly what I did,” Whittaker said

Chimaev’s Illness

Chimaev’s illness raised many concerns. He was pictured in the hospital, while Dana White described it as a violent illness. 

“The problem is we really don’t know (what’s wrong). Every time this guy gets close to a fight, I saw video footage of him on the ground violently ill. He was hospitalized again. He hadn’t trained for three or four days or five days, I don’t know exactly what the number was but we could not put him into a fight next weekend.

“I saw this kid on Fight Island, he wanted to fight the next weekend. I let him fight the next weekend. He looked incredible. He’s been on this tear and 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 (how long he’s going to be out). I don’t know what to say. It’s not like he’s over here in this country and we’ve had doctors here look at him or anything like that. He’s sort of out of touch so it’s tough to deal with,” White said

Chimaev’s Return

But now he could make his return in October. This is also not the first time that Khamzat has had to pull out from a fight. During the pandemic, he could not fight due to Covid. While that may be the case, Chimaev is now targeting a fight at UFC Abu Dhabi in October. Khamzat fought at UFC 294 last year in Abu Dhabi as he beat Kamaru Usman. The quicker Khamzat gets back in the division, the faster he can target a title shot at middleweight.

He has won both of his fights at the weight class. The current champion is Dricus Du Plessis. The South African defeated Sean Strickland to get the belt. He will now defend it against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 on August 17. He will target a title shot if Chimaev wins his next fight, which could be against Whittaker. 

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