UFC welterweight prospect Khamzat Chimaev shocked the MMA community yesterday with his announcement that he retired from the sport. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto reported Chimaev has been dealing with the coronavirus’s after-effects since he was diagnosed at the end of December last year. While Chimaev has publicly stated that he has retired, UFC President Dana White rebukes the announcement as Chimaev being “Super emotional.” In an interview with MMA Junkie’s John Morgan, he revealed that Chimaev is in Las Vegas, Nevada, getting treatment for his lingering conditions from the coronavirus.
In a quote taken from the interview, White said the following.
“When he got here, the doctors took care of him, and they put him on prednisone, which is a nasty f*cking steroid,” White told MMA Junkie. “So he’s on prednisone, and he’s supposed to be taking this thing, and chilling, relaxing, and letting himself recover. He went in and f*cking trained today, felt like sh*t, and got super emotional and posted that.
“He’s not supposed to be training, but you know, this guy’s a savage. He wants to fight like every f*cking weekend, and now he can’t even train, so he just got emotional and posted that, but he ain’t quitting.”
White wasn’t the only one to say that Chimaev wasn’t retiring. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani and WWLMMA reported that The Chechen Republic President Ramzan Kadyrov said on Instagram that he has reached out to Chimaev to talk him out of retiring. In the post, Kadyrov said, “I told him that ALL the Chechen people were upset by this news. He reminded Chimaev that all our young people, whom he inspires, are pinning great hopes on his victory, but what can I say – MILLIONS OF FANS IN RUSSIA AND THE WORLD! And if fans need to wait for his return, then we will all look forward to his entry into the octagon with trepidation and patience.” Chimaev has met with Kadyrov in the past and seems to be on good terms.
Kadyrov has been a controversial figure for years. CNN Jennifer Hansler and Nicole Gaouette reported that the U.S State Department sanctioned Kadyrov for his “Involvement in gross violations of human rights.” The reports also came with a statement from Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that said the department has “Extensive credible information” of Kadyrov’s responsibility “For numerous gross violations of human rights dating back more than a decade, including torture and extrajudicial killings.”
Chimaev hasn’t made another statement beside his retirement announcement. He had an Instagram post before his announcement that has been deleted. BT Sports’s social media contributor Chamkatar Sandhu took a screenshot of the post. The screenshot shows Chimaev in front of the sink with blood. This caused many to think that Chimaev is coughing up blood. It is not clear why Chimaev deleted the post or if he is coughing up blood. The ongoing condition of Chimaev will continue to be evaluated by the public as many will wonder if he will stay retired or will be talked back into fighting.