Khamzat Chimaev Is Retiring?

One of the most exciting upcoming fighters in the MMA world just announced on social media that he's retiring. At 26 years old, Khamzat Chimaev has taken the UFC by storm. His record stands at 9-0 with 6 of those fights by knockout and 3 by submission.

Chimaev was born in Chechnya, where he took to wrestling at the age of 5. When he was 19 years old, he immigrated to Sweden to join his older brother. It was in Stockholm that he started training MMA and quickly won notoriety as an excellent fighter. He competed in the Brave Combat Federation winning all his fights.

COVID-19

On July 16, 2020, Chimaev made his debut in the UFC against John Phillips. He won the fight via submission in the second round and earned him the Performance of the Night award. It was during this time that the UFC took the decision to have fights in closed venues. 10 days after the fight against Phillips, Chimaev took on Rhys McKee winning by TKO in the first round. Also, winning the Performance of the Night award. On September 19 he Knocked out Gerald Meerschaert in the first round earning him his third Performance of the Night.

On November 29, it was announced that Chimaev had tested positive for COVID-19. Chimaev's next opponent, Leon Edwards, also tested positive on November 29. The fight was rescheduled for UFC Fight Night 187, on March 13 but it was later announced by Dana White that the fight was canceled due to lingering effects of COVID-19 on Chimaev.

On March 2, 2021 Chimaev announced on Instagram that he was retiring from the sport. Dana White quickly commented that Chimaev is not retiring and that he was just emotional. "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."

Only time will tell if we get to witness The Chechen Wolf again. Only his body can communicate to Chimaev if he is ready to take on a sport as demanding as MMA. A sport that already takes a toll, both physically and mentally out of each fighter.