Joe Rogan comments on "psychopath" Khamzat Chimaev making himself ill by training through COVID: "He trains like a Wolverine"

By Nishant Zende.

Modified Apr 10, 2025 06:56 GMT

Joe Rogan (right) talks Khamzat Chimaev (left) training despite being down with COVID. [Image courtesy: Getty Images]

Joe Rogan recently shared his thoughts on Khamzat Chimaev training hard while suffering from a COVID-19 infection. Chimaev underwent terrible bouts of illness from late 2020 leading into 2021 due to his training regime while fighting COVID, leaving many worried about the long-term impacts it could have on him.

In a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast with Ron White (JRE #2302), the UFC commentator told his guest about Chimaev's tenacity when it came to training and said:

"This guy Khamzat Chimaev, this motherf**ker is a psychopath. He's a savage. One of the most savage guys that have ever fought in the sport. He just kept training [through COVID]. This motherfu**ker trains like eight hours a day. He trains like a Wolverine. He's an animal."

Rogan continued:

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"He was training with COVID, and he kept getting real sick. Wounded up getting hospitalized, coughing up blood. Get's out, goes right back into it. Same thing... He got hospitalized twice because he wouldn't stop training, he's that psychotic."

Catch Joe Rogan's comments below (1:46:00):

When Khamzat Chimaev's coach revealed extent of UFC star's sickness

In April 2022, Khamzat Chimaev's jiu-jitsu coach, Alan Nascimento, discussed his famed pupil's illness and how the team was afraid he might have to retire. Nascimento recalled Chimaev suffering terrible symptoms of COVID-19 and even suffered serious lung damage.

Speaking on the Trocação Franca podcast, Nascimento revealed that Chimaev chose to resume training less than a month after testing positive for the virus. He said:

"It affected him so quickly. He had every symptom, including difficulty to breathe. We were worried. He started to struggle desperately in the middle of the night, he couldn’t breathe, and we wanted to take him to the hospital... The doctor said we couldn’t train yet... Time went by, and he didn’t have any symptoms anymore, and he thought he was ready to train... He went to Xtreme Couture to spar. And out of nowhere, he started to cough up and spit blood."

He continued:

"There were a lot of cases of high-level athletes dealing with severe post-COVID complications at the time, or even death because they didn’t respect the post-COVID [rest period]... That’s when he fell into despair." [H/t: MMA Fighting]

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Nishant brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his MMA reporting for Sportskeeda. During his 1.5 years with the organization and previous work, Nishant has established himself as a prolific writer in the MMA community. With a Bachelor's degree in Media and Journalism and a Master's degree in International Relations, Nishant's educational background enhances his analytical and reporting skills.

Nishant admires UFC legend Georges St-Pierre for his dominance and exemplary conduct inside and outside the cage. The monumental UFC 229 event, headlined by a grudge match between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor, captivated Nishant and solidified his passion for MMA.

Nishant focuses on delivering high-quality content by giving attention to detail, and rigorous fact-checking via multiple layers. His dedication is evident in his achievement of publishing over 1.7K articles and accumulating 4.4 million reads in less than two years.

Nishant feels that it is only a matter of time that MMA takes over Boxing as the no.1 combat sport. Beyond MMA, his interests include philosophy, music exploration, and wildlife photography.

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Edited by Nishant Zende.