"He just got emotional" - Dana White denies Khamzat Chimaev's retirement claim after COVID-19 battle

In a recent turn of shocking events, Khamzat Chimaev has seemingly announced his retirement from Mixed Martial Arts after his fight with COVID-19. However, UFC President Dana White has denied those claims and has stated that Chimaev may not be done after all.

Speaking to MMA Junkie in an interview, White revealed that the doctors took care of Khamzat Chimaev when he got to Las Vegas for further treatment.

“When he got here, the doctors took care of him, and they put him on prednisone, which is a nasty f***ing steroid. So he’s on prednisone, and he’s supposed to be taking this thing and chilling, relaxing, and letting himself recover. He went in and f***ing trained today, felt like s***, and got super emotional and posted that."

White further clarified Khamzat Chimaev's emotional post on Instagram, in which he claimed to be retiring after a tough battle with COVID-19.

The UFC President mentioned that Chimaev got emotional because he can't train and hence posted on Instagram. White added that the Russian-born Swede fighter isn't retiring from the sport.

“He’s not supposed to be training, but you know, this guy’s a savage. He wants to fight like every f***ing weekend, and now he can’t even train, so he just got emotional and posted that, but he ain’t quitting.”

Khamzat Chimaev quickly made a name for himself in the UFC

Khamzat Chimaev made his UFC debut last year on Fight Island and got off to a dominant start with a victory. Chimaev caught everyone's attention when he decided to make a quick turnaround and stepped back into the Octagon 10 days later for his second official fight.

Following two dominant victories in Abu Dhabi, Khamzat Chimaev made his UFC debut on American soil by knocking out Gerald Meerschaert in the first round of their fight.

Since his last win, Chimaev has been booked on multiple occasions against Leon Edwards. However, the fight has fallen off due to the former's COVID-19 issues.