Training Partner Reveals Khamzat Chimaev Needs Monitoring to Avoid Overtraining

Khamzat Chimaev has a coach dedicated to monitoring his recovery. | 📷: Chris Unger/Zuffa/Getty

Khamzat Chimaev sometimes needs saving from himself.

Chimaev (14-0) is set to challenge Dricus Du Plessis (23-2) for the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title in the UFC 319 main event on Aug. 16 at United Center in Chicago. Arman Tsarukyan has been helping Chimaev in his fight camp. Chimaev is known for overtraining, which has led to health scares in the past.

Tsarukyan revealed that Chimaev hasn’t completely changed his ways and continues to hit the bag or lift weights after sparring. However, “Borz” is constantly being monitored in this camp with a machine that checks his recovery. Chimaev is given time off if his recovery isn’t deemed sufficient.

“Khamzat’s never at 100% on fight night because he constantly overtrains,” Tsarukyan told Kamil Gadzhiev. “After sparring he always goes to work on a bag, lift weights etc. He’s one of those guys you have to tell when it’s time to stop… He’s now being tested daily to monitor his recovery. There they have a device that shows his recovery status every day. And if he’s in a slump, they help him pull out of it. They give him more time to relax, because when you’re overtrained, you can’t work properly in sparring. We need a guy who will control [Khamzat] 24/7 and stop him at the right time so he won’t overtrain.”

A major part of Chimaev’s career has been plagued by illness, mostly resulting from overtraining. The Chechen-born even considered retirement due to lingering COVID-19 issues in 2021. However, Chimaev claimed to have dealt with his overtraining issues ahead of his first-round submission win over Robert Whittaker in his latest outing last year.

This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com

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