Khamzat Chimaev has had to overcome some hard roadblocks these past few months with sickness, withdrawal from a fight, and even rumors of him being banned from the USA. The UFC reportedly had wanted ‘Borz’ to headline UFC 300. However, the Chechen combatant was unable to enter the States due to his associations with Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov. He has not competed in the US after his first-round submission victory over Kevin Holland at UFC 279.  However, UFC always pushes him to the matches in UAE maybe because he has a huge fan following in the Middle East region. Unfortunately, he had to pull out of a fight against Robert Whittaker which was supposed to take place in Saudi Arabia and this got the fans thinking about why he did not go to the USA.

Chimaev cleared all doubts about the rumors circulating that he was banned from the USA. He spoke to Shakiel Mahjouri and said, “I don’t think so the people see a lot of different shit**y things you know I have been in the USA and can come to the US but a lot of shi * things happened in my life being sick, surgeries you know so that is why I am being fighting not like they did before so and all the time. And Abu Dhabi being close to me when I had the chance I jump in and fight here so I’ve been in England I’ve been in the UK, US, and I am going to go to Australia in December. Don’t know can be anywhere so I don’t know who has the problem with me.”

He has previously spoken about the same thing to Aslanbek Badaev stating, “They got me the visa when they wanted it. Everyone says I was denied a visa. So far we have not applied for a visa. I was told to wait and fight in Arab countries for now. And I’m waiting and as everyone remembers, recently at UFC 300 I was offered a fight to perform in Las Vegas. The main event of the evening was against Leon Edwards. Then they could get me a visa so I could fight there. When needed, business is working one might say.”

On top of that ‘Borz’ has had a plethora of illnesses and had to rest. He changed his training regime to take more rest so that his physical ailments could be reduced. He said that his immunity had been severely compromised over the last few months. ‘Borz’ stated that he was taken to the hospital as he had severe headaches and threw up a few times. However even though now he is recovered and is going to fight Whittaker finally, there is another small setback for him.

Khamzat Chimaev pushed down in rankings after a change in the rules

The UFC ͏CEO openly c͏riticized the rankings of the promotion recently against Khalil ͏Rount͏ree’s lack of deserv͏e͏d ͏ra͏nking improvement. This is why a new table has been released for the middleweight division. As per the new midd͏leweigh͏t rankings͏, UFC Vegas 99 winn͏e͏r Anth͏ony Hernan͏d͏ez has moved up of Kh͏am͏zat Chimaev and took the #12 posit͏ion while Chima͏ev͏ has been pushed down ͏to #13. This is a significant sign for the undefeated f͏ighter͏,͏ as he͏ is going to face Whittaker who is at #3.

This is a bad sign for Chimaev because if he does not win this fight he might have to say adios to his middleweight gold dreams. However, these ranking systems needed an update as they were having lots of issues and people were not happy. While in conversation with the media during the DWCS presser, the UFC CEO said that this alteration was needed in the UFC ranking system. He said, “If you look at who Pereira has beat, right? And how he has beat him leading up to this fight. He was winning on the scorecards when he got stopped. He was the head on the scorecards. Stayed in the pocket, put up one of the greatest fights anybody has ever seen, and he stays at number 8… I can’t handle the incompetence. I can’t take it anymore. It’s driving me crazy.”

He also stated that AI would be incorporated for a more accurate ranking system so that the fighters got their deserving positions. However, this spells trouble for ‘Borz’ at the moment because he is #13. Do you think he can win and get a title shot?