UFC News: COVID-19 Seemingly Forces Rising Top Contender To Early Retirement

Rising welterweight star Khamzat “Borz” Chimaev’s UFC career may be over before it even completely gets off the ground.

The 2020 breakout star took to Instagram to seemingly announce his retirement from mixed martial arts (MMA) competition.

“I want to say thank you to everyone for their support in my path in this sport, I think I’m done, yes, I know that I didn’t take the belt, but this is not the most important victory in this life,” Chimaev’s post read.

This comes just weeks after Chimaev was forced to pull out of his scheduled fight against Leon Edwards for a third time due to lingering effects of COVID-19.

Chimaev was initially scheduled to face Edwards in December 2020, but the Russian-born Swede was forced to pull out of the fight after he contracted COVID-19 in late-November.

The fight was rescheduled for this past January, but Chimaev once again had to pull out after still suffering from lingering effects of the dreaded disease.

The highly-anticipated welterweight contest between Chimaev and Edwards was once again rescheduled for March 13th, but for a third time, Chimaev was forced to withdraw once more due to the same reason.

Days later, it was revealed that the UFC would fly Chimaev to the United States in order to get treatment for his ailments.

Unfortunately, it seems that the COVID-19 virus has affected Chimaev more than what was anticipated.

“It may upset you, but my heart and body tell me everything. I want to say a huge thank you to my team [All Star Gym Sweden], I want to say a huge thank you [UFC],” Chimaev stated.

It is an unfortunate development for one of the UFC’s brightest young stars.

Chimaev turned in a stellar rookie year with the UFC in 2020, winning all three of his first fights inside the Octagon. The undefeated 26-year old debuted in style, submitting John Phillips by D’Arce Choke in July.

Just ten days later, Chimaev returned to action and completed a historic turnaround by knocking out Rhys McKee.

In September, Chimaev jumped up to the middleweight division and knocked out Gerald Meerschaert in just 17 seconds.

According to MMA Junkie's John Morgan, however, UFC president Dana White says that Chimaev isn't retiring and is on track to return to action in June.

Whether or not Chimaev actually returns to action remains to be seen.