The hits just keep coming for the UFC this week with the news that Khamzat Chimaev is out of his main event clash with Robert Whittaker at next week’s UFC On ABC 6 event in Saudi Arabia.
According to Dana White, Chimaev has been, “violently…and I mean violently ill” and as such has been ruled out of next week’s event.
That’s concerning news as health issues have been an ongoing concern for Chimaev for several years now, starting with a battle against ‘long covid’ in late 2020 that kept him out of action for a long period of time and at one stage left him fearing that his fight career might be over after coughing up blood.
Chimaev has since successfully returned to action, but early this year he revealed he’d been ill in hospital again.
The booking of his fight against Whittaker had appeared to suggest he was back on the mend, but a new statement from his manager reveals he’s still been having a serious struggle to get back to full health and is now back in hospital.
“It’s with great disappointment that we announce Khamzat Chimaev has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled fight against #3 ranked Robert Whittaker on June 22nd in Riyadh,” the statement from Chimaev’s management reads. “The persistent illness that Khamzat has been battling for major parts of training camp could not be cured in time. He has been in and out of hospitals several times.”
With Chimaev out, the UFC have opted to keep his opponent Robert Whittaker in place for the main event against a new opponent in Iskram Aliskerov.
Aliskerov had actually been set to fight the debuting Antonio Trocoli on the main card of this weekend’s UFC On ESPN 58, but now the 15-1 fighter will now take a massive step up in competition against the No.3 ranked former champ Whittaker in a headlining spot on ABC.
