‘There were a lot of cases of death’- Coach reveals what made Khamzat Chimaev announce his retirement back in 2021
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Khamzat Chimaev
Back in March 2021, Khamzat Chimaev shocked the MMA world after announcing that he will be retiring from the sport of MMA. Khamzat was suffering from the effects of COVID-19 and decided he couldn’t fight anymore. The news turned many heads, as Khamzat was on an absolute roll in his career.
He was coming off of dominant wins in his previous bouts, and he was expected to win the title. Chimaev was having a hard time recovering from the disease, and after a lot of counseling and treatment, he made a full recovery and returned to the competition. ‘The Borz’ is now booked to face number two ranked welterweight, Gilbert Burns at UFC 273, and a win over Burns could give him the title shot against Kamaru Usman.
In an interview with MMA Fighting, Khamzat’s Jiu-Jitsu coach, Alan “Finfou” Nascimento recalled the time when Khamzat issued a statement about his retirement, he said, “The UFC told him he couldn’t train, doctors used a lot of medication on him. [But] he went to Xtreme Couture to spar. And out of nowhere, he started to cough up and spit blood. There were a lot of cases of high-level athletes dealing with severe post-COVID complications at the time, or even death, because they didn’t respect the post-COVID [rest time].” (H/T MMA Fighting)
“He didn’t know how to deal with that situation”– Coach says Khamzat Chimaev panicked and mishandled the situation
Alan said Khamzat was so used to training that he couldn’t believe this all was happening to him. There was no one around to comfort him, and that affected him mentally. “That’s when he fell into despair,” Nascimento said. “There was no one there with him, people he was used to listening, people he trusted, so he went on and said, ‘It’s not worth doing this and putting my life at risk.’ That’s when he made that post and said he wanted to retire.”
“We knew he wouldn’t do that around us,” Nascimento said. “He’s a young kid, living all this hype. One day he’s living in a room in the gym, sharing his lunch with two other people, and the next day he’s the most talked-about guy in the MMA world, in the world’s biggest organization. He didn’t know how to deal with that situation.” (H/T MMA Fighting)
Also read – “Because of the media”- Chael Sonnen reveals why Khamzat Chimaev is one win away from a title fight
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Suryansh Thakur
(1600 Articles Published)