Khamzat Chimaev, one of UFC’s biggest stars, was almost forced to retire from mixed martial arts after receiving a seemingly false “cancer” diagnosis. Chimaev made his promotional debut in July 2020 and competed two more times that year. However, his career took an unexpected turn and nearly came to an end.
In March 2021, Chimaev announced his retirement from the sport due to brief COVID-19 complications. While speaking on the Full Send Podcast in October 2023, he revealed that a doctor had incorrectly diagnosed him with cancer, which led to his retirement announcement. Chimaev explained, “That time was hard man. It’s not the same man. You know that one time I said, the doctor said to me coming down, that ‘You have cancer’, man. That’s why I said I was retired, I didn’t know what to say to my family. I didn’t know what to say to the people.”
Khamzat Chimaev continued, “Then we check again, the other doctor said, ‘No, you don’t have cancer’, [but I’m] still coughing up blood… Still, once if a doctor said something to you, it’s in your head. You still go home, and you’re coughing up blood and sh*t. [It’s like], I’m finished man.”
As for future opponents, Paulo Costa and Chimaev were scheduled to face each other at UFC 294 last year, but Costa had to withdraw due to a severe staph infection. Instead, Kamaru Usman stepped in to fight Chimaev on short notice. Even though Costa is now set to fight Robert Whittaker at UFC 298, he remains eager to take on ‘Borz’ inside the octagon.
In a statement on his personal X account @BorrachinhaMMA, the Brazilian said, “I have been persistently telling the UFC to reschedule this fight for UFC Saudi Arabia, I can’t see a best main event of 5 rounds for it right now cause it makes sense in the Middle East. I would love to beat his as* over there, but it looks like gourmet chenchen doesn’t want that smoke.”
