There may be a reason why Khamzat Chimaev is struggling to make welterweight.
Only two years ago, the UFC’s newest star, Chimaev made weight twice in less than ten days. In his UFC debut, Chimaev fought John Phillips at middleweight, and then ten days later, he dropped to welterweight successfully and fought Rhys McKee. Fast forward to UFC 279, and Chimaev missed weight by eight pounds. ‘Borz’ also struggled to make weight at UFC 267 last year.
COVID-19 causes big problems
Chimaev’s head coach Andreas Michael believes his fighter has had trouble making weight since his run-in with COVID-19 in 2020.
“Ever since he got Corona all this other health issues, he has had a hard time making the weight. Ever since that issue, I must be honest with you, ever since that issue his body has been a little bit off when it comes down to pushing it to the last drop,” Michael told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. But I’m just speculating. As I said, I’m not a physician, I’m not a doctor. I’m not anything like that and I don’t claim to be one
“When somebody like that has the education and the knowledge and tells you to ‘stop cutting wait now.’ Yeah, that’s my advice. And if I didn’t do that, I’d be responsible. But I didn’t do that. I’ll be irresponsible as a person, as a coach. I’m responsible for the health and safety of the guys.”
Chimaev’s case with COVID-19 was very serious – to the point where he retired because he thought he would die. Obviously, he changed his mind, but he was in bad shape.
Coach makes a choice
Michael also revealed that he ultimately made the call for Chimaev to stop cutting weight last week, not only because the doctor told him to stop cutting weight but because he was worried.
“He was getting muscle spasms, shaking, vomiting, when he stood up, he was passing out. I was worried about him,” Michael said.
Coach Andreas Michael was worried about Khamzat Chimaev during his difficult weight cut ⚖️ #TheMMAHour
▶️ https://t.co/ibMxgwWFR7 pic.twitter.com/qgPAdOEoRn
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) September 12, 2022
Weight cutting
Of course, Chimaev wanted to continue, but his coach put his foot down.
“I told him like fuck this. I told him your health is number one. That’s why we called the physician,” Michael said. “Cutting weight is very dangerous for the body especially if you push too hard, and I just wanted him to be okay. And I thought to myself like okay, if this means that I’m going to risk his health then I’ve got to make an executive decision now and I got to be a leader and do what’s best for him.”
With Chimaev’s recent problems making weight, UFC president Dana White said they need to make some decisions about his future on Saturday.
