Khamzat Chimaev was scheduled to fight Leon Edwards in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 41 on December 19, 2020, but on November 29, it was announced that Borz had tested positive for COVID-19, and the bout was in jeopardy. Then on December 1, Edwards too tested positive for COVID-19, and it was severe, with the Jamaica-born, Birmingham, England-based fighter reportedly losing twelve pounds. The fight was rescheduled to a UFC event on January 20.
Then Chimaev was reported to be suffering continuing issues with the disease, and the fight was rescheduled until March 30. Then Chimaev withdrew from that bout, citing ongoing struggles with the disease, as his manager Majdi Shammas detailed last month.
“He insisted that he wanted to train,” said Shammas. “He did one round and then rested. He started coughing, he started feeling ill again, and we had to cancel the training. He even went to the ambulance, to the hospital. … We have been in and out of hospitals so many times now. … HHis friends called me, ‘Hey, Khamzat can’t even speak.’ His fever is so high, his headache is so much, muscle pain and everything. Then an ambulance came and got him to the hospital. Even when he was in the hospital, he called me, when he called me he thought he was going to die.”
Circumstances have apparently not improved, and in a recent message on his social network, Chimaev said he thought he was done fighting.
“I want to say thank you to everyone for their support in my path in this sport. I think I’m done, wrote Chimaev in Russian. Yes, I know that I didn’t take the belt, but this is not the most important victory in this life. It may upset you, but my heart and body tell me everything. I want to say a huge thank you to my team. I want to say a huge thank you to the UFC.
Chimaev posted an Instagram story than included an image of blood in a sink, with a somber caption.
“Take care of yourself and your family, this is the most important thing,” he wrote, again in Russian. “I don’t know what kind of illness it is, but it’s not easy to get through.”
The UFC recently flew Chimaev to Las Vegas for advanced medical treatment. UFC president Dana White spoke directly with Chimaev after his messages referencing retirment, and offered clarification.
When he got here, the doctors took care of him, and they put him on prednisone, which is a nasty f***ing steroid, explained White to John Morgan for MMA Junkie. 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.
He’s not supposed to be training, but you know, this guy’s a savage. He wants to fight like every f***ing weekend, and now he can’t even train, so he just got emotional and posted that, but he ain’t quitting.
He was flown out here so that we could take care of him. We get him taken care of. They got him on medication. He’s going to be fine, and he goes in and starts f***ing training. He’s not supposed to be training, and he’s super frustrated. He’s training when he’s supposed to be resting. He’s got to stay off, at least while he’s on this medication.
Every fight fan wishes Chimaev a full recovery, and trusts he will rest as necessary to return to health.
