‘Violently Ill’ Khamzat Chimaev off UFC Saudi Arabia, Robert Whittaker’s New Foe

The news is true, Khamzat Chimaev is officially out of his fight next weekend.

The UFC’s first event in Saudi Arabia is set to take place on Saturday, June 22nd and it has lost its highly-anticipated main event between middleweight contenders Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev. The two were supposed to collide in a confirmed title eliminator, but everything went up in smoke after Whittaker’s cryptic post on Instagram.

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“Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime,” Whittaker wrote on Thursday.

While fighters post that classic quote all the time, the fans were on edge (and for good reason) following the potential fallout of the UFC 303 main event, especially after several reports circulated on the Internet of Whittaker vs. Chimaev being off, leaving several UFC fighters to throw in their hat for what could be a replacement opportunity of a lifetime.

On Thursday, UFC CEO Dana White would confirm Chimaev’s withdrawal due to the undefeated contender falling ‘violently ill’ just a week out from the fight along with Whittaker’s new opponent Ikram Aliskerov. Australian MMA reporter Benny P was first to report the news.

“Unfortunately, Khamzat Chimaev is out of the fight next weekend in Saudi Arabia, violently, and I mean violently ill,” White announced on social media. “So he’s going back home and hopefully, he gets well soon. The replacement? Ikram Aliskerov… Khamzat, get well soon, my friend.”

Middleweight prospect Aliskerov (15-1) enters his first-ever UFC main event against Whittaker. Coming in on short notice, Aliskerov was originally scheduled to face Antonio Trocoli this weekend at UFC Vegas 93, but those plans went south with the UFC calling him up for an even bigger fight.

“I’m just waiting….” Aliskerov wrote hours before Whittaker’s initial post on Thursday. “Anyone Anywhere Anytime.”

Aliskerov is riding an impressive seven-fight winning streak with the one and only loss in his professional career coming to Khamzat Chimaev back in 2019.

Nassourdine Imavov was reportedly the front-runner to face Whittaker as he just beat the brakes off of former title challenger Jared Cannonier at UFC Louisville last Saturday in a rather controversial TKO stoppage. Though, the fight with Whittaker obviously didn’t come into fruition for whatever reason.

Paulo Costa, who’s coming off back-to-back losses to Sean Strickland and the aforementioned Whittaker, also showed his interest in running it back with the former champion – which was met by a hard pass from the UFC.

“Whittaker vs Gourmet chenchen is down. Call me,” Costa wrote on ‘X’.

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Paulo Costa was originally supposed to be Ikram Aliskerov’s first fight in the UFC top 15 back at UFC 291 but the two middleweights were rebooked for new fights altogether. Now, the unranked Aliskerov has the chance to take Whittaker’s top spot in the UFC rankings at #3.

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