Will we finally see Khamzat Chimaev square off against Robert Whittaker? Their anticipated clash at UFC 308 is the rescheduled fight from UFC Saudi Arabia in June, when ‘Borz’ had to withdraw due to an unspecified illness. Since then, the fans have been eagerly awaiting the two middleweight powerhouses to face each other, but Chimaev’s history of late withdrawals and the recent updates from UFC have done little to allay their fears over yet another cancelation.

UFC’s inaugural event in Saudi Arabia was set to be a landmark event with Chimaev headlining against Robert Whittaker. But following the Dagestani’s fighter’s decision to pull out, Ikram Aliskerov stepped in to fill the gap. The contest between Aliskerov and Whittaker turned out to be a one-sided, two-minute affair, with the “Reaper” dropping his opponent in the very first round. Whittaker, who was primed and ready to face Chimaev, wished him well on his way to recovery to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour but asserted that the results wouldn’t have differed had the fight been against Chimaev, even went as far as stating that Chimaev “dodged a bullet.”

“I am 99 percent sure I would have starched Khamzat as well. Our paths may cross one day in the division, as guys at the top of the game, but he dodged a bullet that night, that’s for sure.”

After Whittaker’s victory, Chimaev came forth to assert that he would take revenge on behalf of his Dagestani friend. In fact, he went on social media to state, “Congratulations [Robert Whittaker], we are not done,” which made the Reaper laugh. In his defense, Bobby Knuckles stated the obvious, “First off I was like, when are you going to see me, bro? You can’t go into a lot of countries. [Laughs]. We’re not going to cross paths, dude. And I’m not going to be in the area. [Laughs].”

Now that Dana White has set UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi, having last competed at UFC 294 last year in October, the fans got a glimpse of Chimaev training with his coach. On Instagram, Home of Fight, uploaded a video of Khamzat Chimaev preparing for ͏next month’s clash against the ‘Reaper.’ Bobby Knuckles, in his own words, is looking for his chance at “disrupting” and “derailing” the ultimate UFC story of Chimaev getting a title shot to be the champion. But Chimaev’s sparring session should have been a good sign but, just like Whittaker’s take on unsolicited revenge post, fans too are not convinced.

Khamzat Chimaev has a long history of pulling out of fights. The ‘Emriti’ fight with Leon Edwards had to be canceled three times between 2020 and 2021 because Chimaev had COVID. This was the start of Chimaev’s unfortunate beginning of a series of withdrawals. In October 2021, Chimaev was booked to fight Li Jingliang at UFC 267. The fighters were ready but Borz’s health suddenly worsened and he had to drop out.

There was once a time when Khamzat Chimaev fought twice within weeks and won them as well. The MMA community believed that ‘Borz’ would be an unstoppable force that would be feared by his opponents, but things have rather changed pretty harshly for him since he contracted COVID-19. He decided to return to training against the doctor’s advice and it had long-term effects on his body. Having fought and won his first three UFC fights in 66 days, his next four fights took place over the course of more than three years.

Chimaev’s difficulties continued into 2022 when he was scheduled to fight Gilbert Burns in April. The fight was eventually rescheduled to UFC 273 due to visa issues. Now that ‘Borz’ is ready to clash against Whittaker, the MMA community is not bullish on his comeback.  On top of it, UFC sending mixed signals has also added to the fears of the fans.

UFC’s antics added to the confusion as fans remain skeptical about Khamzat Chimaev’s return

Initially, UFC announced the Whittaker vs Chimaev clash as the co-main event of the spectacle in Abu Dhabi. But then in a tweet, it presented the heavyweight bout between Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov as the co-main event, before deleting the tweet. This led to speculation whether Chimaev has run into some other health issues, leading to the possible postponement of his fight. UFC then posted a new tweet promoting the Whittaker and Chimaev fight as the co-main event.

COVID had such an impact on his physique that he considered retirement at the top of his career, but Dana White and his team motivated him to come back. His health has always been an issue since the peak of COVID and the frequency of his withdrawals increased after the illness. This prompted a fan to write, “We see this every time then he’s dying in a hospital room a week before”

The fighter always updates his fans about his condition and most of the time it a footage from the hospital bed. Well according to his teammate, the reason why he constantly ends up in a hospital bed is because of the fact that he trains way harder than anyone else, “We’ve never seen any other guy in my life that trains as much as he trains… We did five-round sparring, then after sparring was done, he did like three or four rounds on the pads, and then after that, he did like a 30-minute run… I think he needs that… that’s the only way he knows how to train properly,” said Caio Borralho. Anticipating the worst, a fan wrote, “Next post … hospital footage.”

Well, it must be noted that Chimaev has pulled out from most of his high-profile fights and this has harshly stained his resume. A fan thinks that the “mystery” behind ‘Borz’ still exists, “Can the man make it to the fight. That’s the mystery here.”

Furthermore, a fan asked a sarcastic question to the fighter, “Has he pulled out yet?” That’s not all as one fan was really hopeful that the fight materialize as he believes that Chimaev has the skillset to become the champion but he has to fight and not pull out. It must be noted that he is undefeated and has an MMA record of 13-0, “Really hope he doesn’t pull out he last legit skills just a pull out merchant”

What’s your take on the Khamzat Chimaev situation? State your thoughts in the comments below.