Khamzat Chimaev targets June return, warns Neil Magny to ‘be ready’

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Khamzat Chimaev appears to be back in good health after a severe case of COVID-19.

Chimaev (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) has spent the past several months dealing with the lingering effects of coronavirus, which forced him to twice withdraw from scheduled main event matchups against Leon Edwards, the latter of which was meant to take place March 13 in Las Vegas.

The impact on Chimaev put not only his fighting career in jeopardy, but apparently his life, too. Chimaev’s team recently described how bad the situation got for him, and it forced the UFC brass to intervene in order to help him.

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UFC president Dana White flew Chimaev to Las Vegas to get him top-tier treatment, and it’s paid off with positive results. Chimaev indicated on Saturday that the “first class” medical care provided by the UFC has him feeling strong again, and he’s ready to get back to the octagon in the coming months (via Instagram):

want to say thank you to @danawhite and @ufc Give me medical treatment and taking care of me first class thank you and I’m very grateful see in June

Chimaev, who hasn’t seen action since a 17-second knockout of Gerald Meerschaert in September, isn’t wasting any time setting himself up for a fight in his desired June return to the cage.

He issued a warning to Neil Magny (24-8 MMA, 17-7 UFC), who has made it clear in recent weeks that he’s itching to fight Chimaev following his loss to Michael Chiesa in the UFC on ESPN 20 main event in January.

Chimaev fired back at Magny, and told him a “real” fight is coming his way this summer (via Twitter):

Be ready in June i’m going to give you real Chechen inside the cage and outside