Dana White on Chimaev’s disease: What did the UFC boss say?

The fighter, who’s expected to make history in the UFC, is experiencing a new worrying health episode, while the future for ‘Borz’ seems discouraging.

Fidel RubioVíctor Martín J.VictorMartJimUpdate: Jun 14th, 2024 12:03 EDT0

This past Thursday was one of the worst days in UFC history. The afternoon began with the withdrawal of Khamzat Chimaev from the UFC Fight Night main event in Saudi Arabia and ended with the rescheduling of the McGregor vs. Chandler and Hill vs. Ulberg fights, which left UFC 303 without a main event clash.

With so little reaction time, the company contacted Ikram Aliskerov to replace Borz and booked Alex Pereira vs Jiri Prochazka and Diego Lopes vs Brian Ortega to bring back the excitement to the event.

It’s not the first time Khamzat Chimaev has had issues shortly before his fights. His problems regarding his political ideology and health -apparently, as a coronavirus pandemic consequence- have led him to fight the same number of times he did in his first 65 days as a UFC fighter.

.@robwhittakermma vs Aliskerov LIVE and FREE on @ABCNetwork Saturday June 22nd @Turki_alalshikh #UFCSaudiArabia @RiyadhSeason #RiyadhSeason pic.twitter.com/ERPDi5XEqT

— danawhite (@danawhite) June 13, 2024

Dana confirms Chimaev’s health issues

As is usually the case in these cases, the UFC president Dana White posted a video on social media explaining the last-minute event changes. When announcing Aliskerov’s name to feature in the Saudi Arabia main event, Dana White confirmed that “Khamzat is violently ill” and wished him a speedy recovery.