A few days ago, UFC announced that Khamzat Chimaev was forced to withdraw from the UFC Fight Night event held in Saudi Arabia in late June. The replacement of Chimaev encountered Robert Whittaker, Ikram Aliskerov, UFC rookie. This is an unwanted incident with this tournament.
In fact, UFC has prepared for the UFC Fight Night event with Khamzat Chimaev for a long time. The fact that he was forced to withdraw less than 2 weeks before the event began was force majeure. According to Chimaev's share, he did not want this unexpected incident to happen.
Chimaev said the reason for him to be hospitalized and retreated was because the boxer had food poisoning during training. Chimaev's coach added: “Food poisoning is very dangerous, accepting the fight when poisoning is even more dangerous. That is also the reason why Chimaev decided to withdraw.”
The replacement of Khamzat Chimaev, Ikram Aliskerov is also highly appreciated even though he has just joined UFC not long. He was signed a contract after winning the selection event Dana White's Contender Series 54 in September 2022. Aliskerov fought 2 matches in UFC and won.
Before joining UFC, Ikram Aliskerov participated in MMA Brave and Eagle FC. The only failure in the career of this boxer took place in April 2019. The one who defeated Aliskerov was then Khamzat Chimaev.