“I would advise Chimaev to take a break and resolve his health problems” – Aslanbek Badaev

ASA Vice President Aslanbek Badaev gave advice in an interview with Khamzat Chimaev take care of your health before fully returning to combat.

The 30-year-old Russian fighter, who represents Sweden and the United Arab Emirates in the UFC, withdrew on June 13 from the fight with former UFC champion Whittaker, who was supposed to be the headliner of the UFC tournament in Saudi Arabia on June 22. Previously, Chimaev had already complained about health problems and, as the fighter’s brother previously told , his recovery was supervised by the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov.

— Next to Khamzat, we can see fighters from the ASA league, most often Abubakar Vagaev. Is anyone else from the ACA training with him and is this an opportunity for you to see what the top of the ACA league looks like in the context of the top of the UFC?

— Abubakar Vagaev and Yakub Suleymanov train with him. Yakub is a young prospect, he played two fights in the ASA league. He is Khamzat’s close friend. Albert Duraev is also in his training camp, he’s a former ACA champion, a former UFC fighter. Basically, I fight it [с бойцами АСА] I saw him a few years ago when Khamzat came. Yes, he wasn’t a UFC fighter at the time, but even then it was clear he had serious prospects. And I saw that these sparring events always took place in a competitive manner. And now it’s the same, as far as I know. The same Abubakar Vagaev helped Khamzat a lot in the struggle and in the work against the wall. Abubakar has very good skills in this aspect.

— Doesn’t it seem that Khamzat belongs to that category of fighters who are too big for one weight and not very big for the next?

– Yes, there is such a feeling. But I think with the right approach, it would be better for him to race in the under 77 kg category. Because at 84 kg the opponents are even bigger. It seems to me that he does not have such muscles, such a wide bone, and in the 77 kg category, the length and dimensions of his limbs would be of great help.

— Do you feel like he has so many fights canceled due to overtraining?

– Yes, I have such a feeling and Khamzat himself spoke about it, he said that he plows a lot. His trainer Andreas, who also trained Alexander Gustafsson (former candidate for the UFC belt – editor’s note “”), is renowned for his heavy loads. But again, without being there, it would probably be a mistake to say something and give an assessment. Even if he has a certain obsession with training.

— Khamzat fought three fights in two months, now he is close to the figure of four fights in four years. What advice or recommendations would you give him?

“I would advise you to take a break now, resolve the health issues and then, perhaps, shut up, perhaps make your camp more closed. Arrange training so as not to disturb or disturb. Just enter the silence, train, fight. I believe that Khamzat will return, that he has not yet said his last word. There was a time when Khabib (Nurmagomedov) was flying around with injuries and not fighting at all for a few years. There are difficult times, you have to overcome them. Khamzat is still one of the best fighters competing for gold in the UFC, but the guy needs to come to his senses a little, understand himself and build, probably, a more correct training mechanism. And after that go into battle,” Badaev told .

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