Khamzat Chimaev is looking pretty good for a guy who was “violently ill” a few short weeks ago.
‘Borz’ was scheduled to headline the UFC’s big debut in Saudi Arabia last month before an undisclosed illness forced him to bow out of his bout with Robert Whittaker. Since then, the undefeated Chechen has found himself embroiled in a crypto scam and, more recently, kicked the living sh*t out of a Russian influencer.
In the clip, which you can see below, Chimaev straps on some gloves for a sparring session with Litvin, a YouTuber from Russia whose goal was to survive a full minute with ‘Borz’ inside the cage.
https://x.com/ChampRDS/status/1811536559155400986?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1811536559155400986%7Ctwgr%5E5ba3234188fbaea354f0872ae8cc9286dedec7db%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mmamania.com%2F2024%2F7%2F12%2F24196897%2Fkhamzat-short-break-ufc-cancelling-illness-waste-russian-youtuber-video-ufc-robert-whittaker
Chimaev held nothing back, pummeling the 28-year-old internet celebrity and leaving him curled up against the cage wall writhing in agony.
Interestingly, a video hyping the encounter first appeared on Litvin’s YouTube channel two weeks ago, not long after Chimaev was expected to fight Whittaker in Riyadh. That’s led many fight fans to speculate on the validity of his withdrawal, though it’s admittedly difficult to determine when the above sparring footage was actually filmed. Still, the optics are not great.
Khamzat Chimaev See His UFC Career Stall Out Following Hot Start
Chimaev’s career started off fast and furious with the budding superstar scoring three big wins in the span of eight weeks. However, things quickly slowed down for ‘Borz’ after dealing with an especially bad case of COVID-19 that had him contemplating retirement.
Fortunately, he made a full recovery and returned to the Octagon at UFC 267 against Li Jingliang, but his appearances have been few and far between with Chimaev fighting once per year on average since his October 2021 return.
https://x.com/KChimaev/status/1708592228573057337
It’s been a tough year for influencers who want to test themselves in the fight game. Previously, former middleweight world champion Sean Strickland drew the ire of the MMA community when he pummeled Kick streamer Sneako during an ill-advised sparring session.
Recently, N3on found himself running for his life in California after disrespecting Nate Diaz ahead of the TUF alumnus’ big boxing match with Jorge Masvidal at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
Perhaps it’s time streamers stick to their video games and let the professionals do the fighting.
