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He still didn't even make weight... I think it's hard to make weight excuses for a guy who didn't make weight... Maybe if he did, sure. The facts are that he was the favorite, the heavier fighter, he didn't follow the rules, and he still lost. Karma served up nicely if you ask me. I was a Chimaev fan when I only knew of his fighting in the ring. As soon as I learned who he is as a person, I hope he loses every fight he ever takes forever.
I am a die hard Khamzat Chimaev fan and his fighting style, wrestling does need a lot of energy and only Khabib Nurmagomedov had the conditioning to go 5 hard rounds with wrestling and never got tired.
Heard a lot of gym stories from Khamzat Chimaev camp about his elite conditioning when he first joined the Alexander Gustafsson's gym but it all changed once he was diagnosed with COVID, he had severe respiratory infections and immune system failure, he refused to take proper rest as he would jump back and start training which caused further severe issues and he was even misdiagnosed with having cancer as he was spitting blood.
There was a time Khamzat contemplated retirement and I thought he would be yet another talent who would miss out big time just like Zabit Magomedsharipov who retired due to health complications.
Once you have these damages you are not going to get a complete recovery to compete at the highest level and that is why he might be having stamina issues and on top of that he had a portion of his thyroid removed, which makes his recovery process harder and that might be the reason he is struggling to cut weight.
But Khamzat is not the only person who had health problems. Others manage to fight, but only Khamzat is so inconsistent, that one time he can easily do 25min fight, sometimes he is dead after first round.
Maybe it is time for Khamzat and others to stop cheating with weight and fight in their natural weight division? Maybe it is time for Khamzat and others to surround themselves with right people? Khamzat issues in last fight: was hard to cut 21kg, had to cut 6kg day before the fight, because during last weeks there were no nutrition coach and team was on duty for cooking. Belt and huge money are on stake, and you cant find a person who will monitor what you eat during camp? That is such a bs. Why not be fair and fight in division that you belong? Have 90-100kg weight daily and fighting in 84kg, is this fair? Why not then go to amateur competition and beat everyone there? (that is a claim for everyone, not only to Khamzat).
If you have health problems, like portion of thyroid removed, and it is hard to prepare for the fight - just quit fighting. Btw like Zabit did. He has problems with hearth. In third and later round his stamina decreases greatly. He took a right decision, he quit professional fighting.
But no, people want have health problems, cheat with weight, then go and show weak performance and after give bunch of excuses. What all of us do when we are sick. Majority stay at home until recovered, and only they go to work. We dont play heroes by being heavily sick, rush to office to do job mediocre, then give excuses that we were sick and could not done it properly.
