Khamzat Chimaev has opened up on his sickness which scuppered his original bout with Robert Whittaker four months ago.
‘Borz’ finally meets Whittaker in the Octagon this Saturday for the co-main event of UFC 308, which is headlined by Ilia Topuria defending his featherweight belt against Max Holloway.
Chimaev has been chasing UFC titles since his debut in 2020Getty
Chimaev was meant to fight his Australian opponent in June for UFC Fight Night in Saudi Arabia, but Dana White announced he was ‘violently ill’ just days before the bout.
Chimaev was heading into the original scheduled dust-up having just recorded an impressive majority decision victory over former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
Fighting out of the United Arab Emirates – where his next fight takes place – a sudden illness for the impressive wrestler forced him to pull out.
“We were in training camp. The first month was very good. The last three weeks, my immunity goes down,” Chimaev said on UFC 308 Countdown.
“I don’t know what happened. All the guys ate the same food, [but] only me got sick.
“I was in the hospital for a couple of days. I came out and started to train again and the same s*** happened again.
“The doctor said to me: ‘You need to just be off from the gym and not just training, not doing nothing.’ I went home to the mountains.”
‘Borz’ has been preparing for his bout with Whittaker in a gym built for Olympic wrestlers in the mountains of Elbrus, Russia.
His fight will determine who the No.1 contender for the middleweight championship will be to eventually take on Dricus Du Plessis, the current champion of the division.
Whittaker knocked out Ikram Aliskerov of Russia in his last UFC boutGetty
Chimaev beat Usman for his 14th professional MMA win last yearGetty
“Before I [got] famous, nobody [told] me what to do. When I start to be famous, I start to make money, everyone was telling me to do this, do that, and everyone tried to be coaches,” Chimaev added.
“That was hard. Now I choose what I want to do and what day I want to train. That gives you good energy but everything I do I do it 100 per cent.”
Ahead of the co-main event bout at UFC 308, Whittaker told talkSPORT.com exclusively that he aims to take Chimaev’s head off and has left ‘no stone unturned’ in his training camp.
The former middleweight champion lost two title fights to Israel Adesanya between 2019 and 2022, and his last Octagon defeat came at the hands of Du Plessis.
MMA fans will be excited at the prospect of seeing both men’s unique style come face-to-face at UFC 308.
Chimaev says he is the best wrestler in the UFC, whereas Whittaker offers more of a threat on the feet.
UFC 308 also sees No.1 light heavyweight contender Magomed Ankalaev face Aleksandar Rakic.
Meanwhile, Stockport’s Lerone Murphy challenges Dan Ige in the featherweight division and middleweight prospect Shara Magomedov takes on Armen Petrosyan.
