‘Borz’ Reveals ‘Immunity’ Issues That Sank Saudi Card

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Khamzat Chimaev is scheduled to fight Robert Whittaker in the UFC 308 pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event on Sat. night (Oct. 26, 2024) at Etihad Arena on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi, UAE, the second time “Borz” has been paired against “The Reaper” in 2024.

Their first booking, planned for the UFC Saudi Arabia main event, went up in smoke after Chimaev got sick and was forced to withdraw.

“We were in training camp, the first month was very good,” Chimaev said on Countdown to UFC 308 (transcribed by Farah Hannoun). “The last three weeks, my immunity goes down. I don’t know what happened. All the guys ate the same food, (but) only (I) got sick. I was in the hospital for a couple of days. I came out and started to train again and the same sh*t happened again. The doctor said to me, ‘You need to just be off from the gym and not just training, not doing nothing.’ I went home to the mountains.”

A lot of things happen in the mountains these days, which is probably going to trigger UFC middleweight Jack Della Maddalena (because of this).

“He’s a hard fighter,” Whittaker said about Chimaev on his MMArcade Podcast. “He likes to grapple a lot. He uses his reach and range to good effectiveness. He’s got good knockout power. He likes to play the villain against his opponents, but he’s an honorable fighter. We’re going to get in there and we’re going to have an honest fight. We’re both going to leave it in there. He’s not a quitter, I’m not a quitter, so I look forward to making history in Saudi Arabia.”

To see who else is fighting at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi click here.