The mystery injury bug bites again! Khamzat Chimaev was slated to face Robert Whittaker this weekend, June 22, 2024 at UFC’s first ever event held in Saudi Arabia. So what happened?
Well, truthfully, we’re not entirely sure. Khamzat only recently released this statement on his private Instagram page.
Even Dana White appeared perplexed, noting “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.” Adding that, “Every time he gets close to fighting, he gets really sick. I don’t know [how long he’ll be out of action]. 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.”
Yikes.
So what does this mean? Was it an injury? Tummy ache? Or fear? Presumably not the latter, but headlining the first ever event in Saudi Arabia carries quite the bit of pressure. Still, with his very ambiguous Instagram post, we really have no idea what happened.
Robert Whittaker, ever the sportsman, has accepted to fight Ikram Aliskerov on short notice. Though Aliskerov poses a formidable threat, one can’t help but notice that Ikram’s fighting style is simply just the budget version of Chimaev, a style that, when placed against Whittaker, will presumably fall short.
Rest up, Chimaev.
