Late last year, Khamzat Chimaev tested positive for the coronavirus and was pulled out of Leonardo’s fight. The promotion then decided to just move on and discuss the rising star immediately.
Ali Abdelaziz had earlier remarked how ‘his lungs have not recovered 100%’, but with a fight still being discussed, Chimaev was still trying to exercise through his severe symptoms. However, it did not end well for him, and the fight was canceled again.
Chimaev’s team has since described several trials he has been dealing with for months, including ‘numerous complications’ and ‘several’ trips to the hospital.
“It’s crazy. I have no words,” Majima Shammas, manager of Chimaev, told Front Kick. “He insisted he wanted to practice, so we tried and it failed. He was really bad. He did not even “He did two rounds straight. He did one round, rested, then he started coughing and starting to feel sick again. We had to cancel the training, even had an ambulance to the hospital.”
Chimaev had a CT scan due to chest pain, blood tests and numerous other examinations. His coach said that Chimaev, apart from all the other symptoms, also had bronchitis and that he was on antibiotics for 10 days.
“On Tuesday, when he finished training, he could not even walk to his room,” Shammas said. ‘He did not even have the energy to go up to his room. He fell asleep in the foyer.
“He can not practice. His friends called me and said, ‘Hey, Khamzat can’t even speak. His fever is so high, his headache is so much, you know, his muscle aches and everything. “Then an ambulance came and took him to the hospital,” Shammas continues. “Even when he was with me in the hospital, he thought he was going to die. He was really bad.
“I really feel for him. “If I know Khamzat correctly, he wants to come back as soon as possible (but) he needs to rest a bit, his body is fully functioning,” he said. “I can not allow him to practice. Who knows? This time he started practicing, he was happy. Next time, he might not be so happy. ”
Chimaev, like former champion Cody Garbrandt and many others, is apparently among the estimated 10% of COVID patients that doctors call ‘long-term carriers’ or patients with persistent symptoms. It is still unclear how many of these symptoms are permanent, but there are already many cases where patients who are seriously ill develop breathing problems that leave their lungs permanently scarred.
His health is obviously much more important than his fighting career, but hopefully everything goes up, and Chimaev will soon return to normal.