COVID-19 changed the world’s landscape forever, from people having severe health complications to the rising death toll and various long-term effects after the disease hit—it was a disaster. No one was immune to the effects, not even UFC stars and champs like Khamzat Chimaev. Many UFC top dogs suffered from the effects of COVID-19, including Alexander Volkanovski and Cody Garbrandt.
Meanwhile, the Chechen warrior was also affected by the same and tested positive for the virus. His condition was so bad at one time he even contemplated retiring from MMA altogether in 2021.
Recently, ex-UFC referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy doubled down on the harmful effects of COVID-19 on our undefeated middleweight star. He spoke to Josh Thomson at #656 of Weighing In podcast and said, “I have seen him never get past the second round but I have seen him in the UFC and it’s not his fault. But whatever happened to him with COVID and how that, you know, virus—whatever you want to call it—affected him greatly and it caused him; you know he was talking about retiring. And you know he has had issues with the ability to maintain a cardiovascular base, he tends to just burn out. He burns out. And he can’t get it back.”
The Russian-born Swedish fighter was forced to pull out of his matchup against Leon Edwards that was scheduled for March 13, 2021. The fight was supposed to happen in December, but Edwards had tested positive for COVID-19, and then it got shifted to January, but unfortunately, COVID-19 dismantled Chimaev as well. Since then, ‘Borz’ kept on suffering from physical ailments. “Thank you all so much for supporting me in my journey in this sport,” he wrote in an Instagram post back then. “I think I’m done.”
In fact, Chimaev’s head coach, Andreas Michael, had mentioned that he was having trouble making weight since his fight against COVID-19, as per Middle Easy. The Instagram post by Chimaev made Dana White speak out on his retirement and he had mentioned to MMA Junkie that ‘Borz’ was getting treatment in Las Vegas where the doctors put him on “prednisone, which is a nasty f***ing steroid.” So, as per the boss, Chimaev posted the retirement news because he was emotional from the ailments and not because he wanted to retire.
He said, “So he’s on prednisone, and he’s supposed to be taking this thing and chilling, relaxing, and letting himself recover. He went in and f***ing trained today, felt like s***, and got super emotional and posted that.” Indeed, the 14-0-0 star came back after a long hiatus and proved every hater wrong by winning 4 back to back fights. He won against Robert Whittaker last at UFC 308 and is now he is waiting for his title shot.
Caio Borralho ready to fight Khamzat Chimaev
Ever since the rumored news of Dricus Du Plessis being injured was on the MMA social media pages, the fight fans have been in a frenzy about the UFC 317 headliner. Meanwhile, #6 Caio Borralho decided to swoop in as the savior and pushed for an interim title fight against ‘Borz’ during International Fight Week.
However, now there is good news from none other than DDP himself who decided to clear all doubts about his injury through Instagram. The South African juggernaut is thankfully not injured! ‘Stillknocks’ has also confirmed to the fans that Dana White has provided him with his date for his next title defense, but it’s not in June.
“Okay, so everyone had their opinions and rumors, and stories about a shin break and injuries, etc. I found it all very entertaining. Unfortunately, none of it is true. Myself and [UFC] already discussed a fight date and opponent,” Dricus Du Plessis posted on social media. Thankfully, this means that Chimaev has a chance to fight for the title. Will we see ‘Stillknocks’ fight ‘Borz’ very soon? Tell us what you think in the comments below!
The post Ex-UFC Ref Claims Khamzat Chimaev Was On the Verge of ‘Retiring’ After COVID Took a Massive Toll on Undefeated MMA Star appeared first on EssentiallySports.
