Khamzat Chimaev’s ranking in the middleweight division has taken a toll after his withdrawal from the UFC Saudi Arabia event! Scheduled to face Robert Whittaker in a crucial matchup in the 185 lbs division, ‘Borz’ had to be replaced by the promotion due to a severe health issue. According to the statement made by CEO Dana White, “Khamzat Chimaev is out of the fight next weekend in Saudi Arabia. Violently, and I mean, violently ill.”

So far, it is unclear what issues Chimaev has been dealing with as his manager has released a statement where he revealed, “The condition has been kept within the team…”.  Nevertheless, the set-back has caused a lot of headaches for the promotion and the boss who recently highlighted his ‘frustration’ with trying to schedule a fight for ‘Borz’ and the latest ranking update shows that Chimaev’s absence from competition has also caused him to fall out of the top 10!

Khamzat Chimaev falls from UFC MW Top 10 as his health issues lead to ‘headache’ for UFC and Dana White

According to an update shared on X by John Morgan, “Khamzat Chimaev falls one spot on the latest #UFC rankings update to No. 11 at middleweight following the news of his withdrawal from #UFCSaudiArabia. Chimaev had previously been tied with Roman Dolidze in the No. 10 slot.”

While Chimaev had been competing in both the middleweight and welterweight divisions in the past, his issues with making weight for the Nate Diaz fight in 2022, led to him facing Kevin Holland at UFC 279 instead. After a win against Holland in the catchweight bout and a lay-off for a year, Chimaev made his move up to middleweight permanent in his UFC 294 clash against Kamaru Usman in 2023.

According to the fight announcement for his Saudi Arabia clash against Whittaker, Chimaev would have been in line for a no.1 contender spot with a win over the former champion and would have seen a significant bump in the rankings if he managed to prevail over the no.3 ranked ‘Reaper’.

But now, a fall out of the top 10 will mean that Chimaev will have to re-claim his position as a challenger for the title once he returns to the competition. In the statement made by his manager, his team had stated, “Khamzat and team will now get to the bottom of the cause of the issues, and he will come back even stronger.”

However, ‘Borz’s consistent issues with stepping into the cage when required led to Dana White making a surprising confession about how difficult it has been trying to set up a fight with Khamzat Chimaev for the promotion!

Dana White reveals how matchmaking for Chimaev is “tough to deal with”

In an honest statement made on ‘The Jim Rome Show’ Dana White stated, “The problem is we really don’t know every time this guy gets close to a fight”, highlighting his frustration with Khamzat Chimaev. The UFC boss further went on to state, “Every time he gets close to fighting, he gets really sick. I don’t know. I don’t know what to say. It’s not like he’s over here in this country and we’ve had doctors here look at him or anything like that. He’s sort of out of touch so it’s tough to deal with.”

Despite his initial start in the UFC is a whirlwind of action as Chimaev set the record for the quickest turn-around by a fighter in the modern era by winning 2 fights in 10 days, in recent years, his activity has slowed down considerably. In fact, before the UFC 294 clash against Usman in 2023, ‘Borz’ had been away from competition since 2022.

In conclusion, his continued health issues and recent ranking drop mean that Khamzat Chimaev will need to reclaim his position as a top contender once he returns to the Octagon. The UFC and the fandom now wait to see if ‘Borz’ can overcome these setbacks and return stronger than ever! Do you think Chimaev will be able to make a quick return to competition or is this the last we’ll see of ‘Borz’ in the UFC? Share your thoughts in the comments below!