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Khamzat Chimaev has opened up on the ‘difficulty’ of seeing his one-year-old son deal with health issues – a physical battle that the fighter knows all too well.
Chimaev is 13-0 in MMA with 11 finishes, and he stormed to 3-0 in the UFC across just two months in 2020. That run led fans to predict that the Russian-born Swede would race to a title at welterweight or middleweight – his preferred divisions – but Chimaev’s career has been stop-start since.
The 30-year-old contracted Covid in December 2020 and has continued to battle lingering effects of the illness, fighting just four times in the last four years. And now, Chimaev is tasked with keeping his young son healthy, as well as himself.
Ahead of UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi, where Chimaev resides and where he will fight Robert Whittaker on Saturday, the “Wolf” spoke to ESPN.
“I’m going back to Sweden [after the fight],” Chimaev said. “My son has [had] one surgery, has a second one. Everything’s good, thanks to God. One more after the fight, and after that my son will be healthy.
“He has one kidney, some problem,” Chimaev continued, although it was unclear whether he meant his child had lost a kidney or was suffering from issues in one of two.
“I don’t know what it’s called in English, but they say usually a lot of kids have it. Thanks to God, he’s healthy, he’s speaking, running, he’s happy.
“Of course, operations, surgery… It’s hard when somebody from your family has one – my brother, my sister, anyone. It’s hard thinking about it, but when it’s your kid, it’s different. You think about it.
“For me, most important is my family, not the fighting game. So, of course I think about that more.” Chimaev added that raising his son, who is “a year-and-a-half” old, has been “difficult but fun”.
The No 13 middleweight also discussed his own health problems, the specifics of which have remained undisclosed for some time. In June, he withdrew from a fight against Whittaker on short notice, with UFC president Dana White saying Chimaev had been “violently ill”.
“I don’t remember what the doctor said,” Chimaev told ESPN. “He said: ‘You can’t train anymore.’ Some infection, I don’t remember, but because my immunity went down, all sickness you [get] badly. Whatever passes close to you, you [get] it.
“He said: ‘Just rest, go home, don’t do anything for one month, recover, just take some supplements.’ I listened to him, and it worked.” A voice off-screen was heard suggesting the issue was “gastro”-related.
Chimaev was also asked about his recent admission that he had suffered from “depression”, and said: “It’s hard to move from one country to a different country, move your stuff, change your bank account, a lot of different things, and still you have to train.
“Change the team, work with different coaches, a lot of s*** is going on. I had to move my family to a different country, find new doctors, a lot of things, a lot of papers. And you still have to be in the gym twice a day. It was too much, but everything is done. Thanks to God, everything is fine.”
Chimaev last fought in October 2023, beating Kamaru Usman on points. The Nigerian-American, a former welterweight champion, was making his middleweight debut and stepping in on short notice. Chimaev was originally due to face Paulo Costa, who withdrew due to injury.
In Chimaev’s previous fight, in September 2022, he was at fault for a late-notice change to an event; the 30-year-old missed weight for a 170lb bout with Nate Diaz, and subsequently fought Kevin Holland at a 180lb catchweight. Chimaev won via first-round submission.
Fans even feared for Chimaev on Friday (25 October), when he weighed in just 15 minutes before the cut-off time. He tipped the scales successfully, however, at 186lb.
