Khamzat
Chimaev claims to have drastically changed his training
approach leading up to his upcoming fight.
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Chimaev’s seemingly promising
UFC career has not fully lived up to its expectations after
being plagued a lack of activity in recent years. The Chechen-born
Swede is infamous for his massive weight miss for a scheduled fight
against Nate Diaz in
September 2022 in addition to multiple withdrawals.
Most recently, Chimaev was scheduled to headline
UFC Saudi Arabia against Robert
Whittaker this past June. However, “Borz” pulled out with less
than two weeks to go after becoming violently ill. Chimaev was
replaced on nine days’ notice by Ikram
Aliskerov, who suffered a first-round knockout loss against
Whittaker.
The booking between Whittaker and Chimaev is now rescheduled for
UFC
308 on Oct. 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Chimaev
revealed that he has reunited with his first wrestling coach, Salim
Noutsalkhanov, going into the fight. According to Chimaev, it was
overtraining that led to him getting sick in the past. However, the
undefeated contender now gets enough rest training with
Noutsalkhanov, who has also coached freestyle wrestling legend and
three-time Olympic gold medallist Buvaisar Saitiev.
“The point is they now let me rest and recover properly,” Chimaev
said on the Hustle Vlog (translation via Red Corner MMA). “I used to go to the gym and
just train until I was done… But then I ended up in the hospital.
Like the last time when I was in the hospital three times in a row
within three weeks. My immune system went down, I got sick. Now I
use a better approach. I work with good coaches. Salim raised a lot
of champions. He also trained Buvaisar Saitiev for the Beijing
Olympics. With people like, that I’m going to take a big step
forward.”
While former champ Sean
Strickland is adamant on fighting for the title next, the
Whittaker vs. Chimaev matchup could also have a say in the
middleweight championship picture. Whittaker has bounced back from
a TKO loss against reigning champ Dricus Du
Plessis with wins over Paulo Costa
and Aliskerov. Meanwhile, Chimaev has finished five of his seven
UFC wins so far, most recently earning a majority decision win over
Kamaru
Usman at UFC 293 in his middleweight debut.