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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Khamzat Chimaev is once again struggling with illness.

On Thursday, news broke that Chimaev was forced out of his scheduled fight against Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia on June 22 in Riyadh, due to illness. Shortly after after the announcement was made, Chimaev’s manager, Majdi Shammas, posted to his Instagram to explain the severity of the situation.

See Shammas’ unedited statement below.

“It’s with great disappointment announced that Khamzat Chimaev (13-0) has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled fight against #3 ranked Robert Whittaker on June 22nd in Riyadh.

“The persistent illness that Khamzat has been battling for major parts of training camp could not be cured in time. He has been in and out of hospitals several times. The condition has been kept within the team, since everyone has been absolutely committed to finding a solution. Although all available options have been thoroughly considered, it has now come to a point where the team has mutually agreed that it is not possible to carry on like this. Stepping into the cage not properly prepared against such a formidable opponent as Robert is unfortunately impossible.

“This is a devastating turn of events for Khamzat, his coaches, training partners and other members of the team. Headlining UFC’s first ever visit to Saudi Arabia was a great honor and something that was very much looked forward to. Although the cause is far beyond anyone’s control, a sincere apology is extended to the UFC, Dana White, Mick Maynard, Sean Shelby , Hunter Campbell , His Highness Mr. Turki Alalshik, Robert Whittaker, and his team, and most importantly to the fans who were looking forward to the bout.

“But everything happens for a reason and god has his own plans, the goals remain the same. Khamzat and team will now get to the bottom of the cause of the issues, and he will come back even stronger. This is unfortunately a part of the fight game and as soon as Khamzat is healthy, his much-anticipated return to the Octagon will be immediately rescheduled. #healthalwaysfirst”

Chimaev has had an unfortunate history with illness during his time with the UFC. After bursting onto the scene in 2020 by winning three fights in just two months, Chimaev was then sidelined for a year due to COVID-19 and longstanding effects from the illness that forced him out of two planned bouts against Leon Edwards. It’s unclear at this time if Chimaev’s current illness is related or if this is a separate medical issue.

Now that Chimaev is out, past opponent Ikram Aliskerov steps in to face Whittaker in the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia next Saturday.

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Alex Pereira seemingly has no qualms about fighting in just over two weeks time at UFC 303 against Jiri Prochazka in a short-notice light heavyweight title rematch, claiming his “ancestors” will lead him into battle in Las Vegas.

Pereira, a former undisputed middleweight champion and the current light heavyweight kingpin, is slated to return on short-notice in a main event fight against Czech Republic star, Prochazka in just over two weeks – with the clash replacing the return of an injury-stricken, Conor McGregor.

First fighting Prochazka last November at Madison Square Garden, Pereira would turn in an impressive second round knockout win over the former undisputed titleholder, handing him his first promotional defeat to boot.

Alex Pereira confident ahead of UFC 303 fight with Jiri Prochazka

And commenting on his drafting in on short-notice to UFC 303 in a headlining capacity, Pereira who was in the process of carrying out seminars in a trip to Australia, held no qualms about fighting on short-notice.

“I understand that this fight [with Jiri Prochazka] is very close and there may be difficultes with the lead up time BUT if there is somebody that can make this happen it is me!” Alex Pereira posted on his official Instagram account. ‘POATAN!”

“This is why I am one of the biggest names in the UFC, Alex Pereira!” Alex Pereira continued. “I take risks that not one other person would be willing to take but I know I have my ancestors with me. The spirits are with me and I’m ready for it all.” 

As for McGregor, the former two-weight champion is set to be sidelined for at least two months according to reports, with a potential August or September return for the veteran Irish star already targeted.

Furthermore, while the nature of McGregor’s injury has yet to be disclosed, reports have also suggested the injury suffered was not “severe”.

Who wins at UFC 303 later this month: Alex Pereira or Jiri Prochazka?

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The promotion for the July 6 boxing match between former UFC fighters Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal is in full swing.  Last month a press conference was held that ended in a brawl.  On Thursday, the first episode of ‘The Last Man Standing: Diaz vs. Masvidal’ was released.  

“I’m coming to finish.  I’m coming to kill,” said Diaz in the video.  Diaz lost to Masvidal when the two fought for the inaugural ‘BMF’ title at UFC 244 in November 2019 via doctor stoppage due to a cut.  He’ll have a shot at revenge when the two meet at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. next month.  

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The explosion of NIL deals — name, image and likeness rights — completely changed the landscape of sports endorsements forever. For the first time, college athletes like those playing football started getting paid alongside the schools that reaped the benefits of their talents with massive broadcast rights deals worth billions.

But NIL deals have reached further than just athletes in college; there are now high-schoolers and even younger athletes signing similar deals. Back in February, 13-year-old McKenna “Mak” Whitham became the youngest athlete to ever sign with Nike when she inked a NIL deal with the powerhouse company.

So it only made sense that a prodigy in wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and MMA would seek out similar opportunities, which is how 13-year-old Talon Worden got connected with Iridium Sports Agency, a company known for representing fighters such as ex-UFC champ Brandon Moreno, Bobby Green, and another teen sensation in Raul Rosas Jr.

Worden’s father, Joe, who is a veteran of the Marines and a longtime MMA coach in his own right, says he felt like teaming up with an actual agent working in combat sports would be the best way to find opportunities for his son.

“As a dad, reaching out to endorsements or sponsors or, ‘Hey, can you help us here, can you do this or do that?’ — every dad thinks they’ve got the next LeBron James or Tiger Woods,” Joe Worden told MMA Fighting. “Everybody thinks their kid is the best out there.

“I didn’t want to come off as the dad asking for stuff and they would be like, ‘We’ve just got another dad out here.’ So when we spoke to [Iridium founder Jason House], I was like, you know what? I’ll let you guys do the footwork and that’s kind of where we went from there.”

Because NIL deals have become such a lucrative business, it’s almost irresponsible not to explore those options, but as much attention as his signing received, the kid at the center of it all never lost sight of what was most important to him — and that’s winning.

Talon Worden started training Brazilian jiu-jitsu when he was only 4 years old. When he turned 6, Worden started wrestling, and by 10 or 11 years of age, he was competing in youth MMA tournaments.

Over the past couple years, Worden has earned a ton of praise for his growing list of wrestling accolades. A quick glance at his TrackWrestling profile — a site that tracks youth wrestling results — shows Worden has amassed a ridiculous résumé filled with more than a dozen first-place finishes in competitions just over the past year.

As much as he loves wrestling, Worden still favors MMA over everything else he does for one very simple reason.

“I like MMA the most just because I can do everything that I know in it,” he told MMA Fighting. “I’m not trying to sound cocky or anything, but because I know wrestling and jiu-jitsu, I can play all those into MMA. I have a little bit to choose from everything that I love do.”

Hearing that a 13-year-old kid is competing in MMA may sound shocking, which is why his father is quick to point out the rules put in place to protect young people in the sport.

“There’s no head strikes until you’re 18 years old,” Joe said. “It’s actually safer than doing kickboxing or boxing, where you’re taking head strike after head strike after head strike. In [youth] MMA, there is no head striking. So you can strike from the neck down, and then once it goes to the ground, wrestling and jiu-jitsu comes into play, but there is no head strikes. So these kids are not getting brain damage at 13 years old.

“As a dad, as a coach, as a Marine, I’m not going to put my kid out there to get brain damage. I would much rather see him do the MMA stuff — he’s done kickboxing and I said we weren’t going to be doing that again because he’s too young to be hit in the head with boxing gloves and kicked in the head. That’s why we stayed with MMA, because I don’t have to worry about him getting knocked out or getting concussions.”

On Saturday, Worden competes in the GAMMA (Global Association of Mixed Martial Arts) Youth Nationals in Milwaukee, where he seeks to add another title to his record. At 13, Worden has already picked up more trophies and gold medals than most athletes could possibly win during a lifetime, but he’s not slowing down any time soon.

Continued success at that level undoubtedly puts a lot of pressure and expectations on a kid not even old enough to drive a car yet, but his father says everything Talon does is only because he wants to do it.

Joe Worden insists that if his son woke up tomorrow and decided he wanted to give up every athletic endeavor and just focus on school, he would support that decision.

“If he quits tomorrow, that’s his choice,” Joe said. “None of us are pushing this. He’s just found something that he really does like. There’s been times where I’m like, ‘Can I take the night off?’ I work all day, pick him up from practice, I’m like, ‘Can we just take the night off?’ And he says, ‘No, I’m good, let’s go, my opponent isn’t taking a day off.’”

In addition to wrestling, MMA, and grappling competitions, Worden also plays full back and middle linebacker for his school’s football team. At 6-foot-tall and 170 pounds as a 13-year-old, he has the size to play a physical game and hopes to transition to quarterback next season. He also runs track in the springtime.

With all these various sports, tournaments, and competitions — which included traveling to 14 different countries over the past year and a half — how does Worden manage his schoolwork? Well, just tack that onto his growing list of accomplishments as Talon maintains a perfect straight ‘A’ average, although he shrugs his shoulders when he reports his lowest grade this past year was a 92 — which is still an ‘A.’

Considering he’s signed with a prominent MMA agency and he’s tearing through wrestling and MMA tournaments seemingly on a weekly basis, Worden’s future in combat sports appears to be set in stone, but he actually has other ambitions in mind.

In fact, just hearing him rattle off the things he wants to do before retiring — yes, a 13-year-old kid is already mapping out his entire plan for the future — he’s not putting his focus on any one goal just yet.

“I would absolutely love to go to West Point for college,” Talon said. “I’ve been working to go there since the time I was little. I want to go to the UFC sometime. GAMMA, which is the youth MMA I fight for, they just got represented by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) so they’re thinking it might be in the 2028 Olympics, which I will still be young enough to compete. So if I could compete in MMA in the Olympics, I would love to do that.

“You can’t do this forever, so when I do retire, I would like to become a physical therapist or a sports rehab doctor.”

For all the awards Talon has captured, his parents admit that they’re far more concerned with raising a good kid.

“We were at the Tulsa Kickoff and he won the Tulsa Kickoff, and I got a message from somebody from California that said, ‘It goes without saying how good of an athlete your kid was, he won the whole thing, but the thing that got me was he was always on the mat side, cheering for somebody he already beat or giving them a pep talk,’” Joe said.

There’s no telling exactly what Talon Worden does next, but there’s obviously a lot of potential there. That’s why Iridium’s House signed to represent him and help his parents navigate the new market of NIL deals available for their son.

“We were very intrigued when the Worden family first contacted us about possibly representing Talon,” House told MMA Fighting. “It was obvious right away that Talon is extremely committed to his school and training. Joe has a ton of experience in combat sports and developing talent himself. Talon is young, but we’re very excited to help guild him through the NIL process and eventually into the world of professional MMA.”

Talon may be getting a lot of attention for someone his age, but that’s nothing new to him. After winning several tournaments in a row, he suffered a bad loss and then dropped a second straight match that knocked him out of the competition, and Talon acknowledged he let the pressure get to him. Ever since that moment, he’s kept his sole focus on the task in front of him and doesn’t think about anything else until that job is done.

That probably explains why his lofty future ambitions aren’t a distraction but rather just a tool he uses to keep his eyes constantly on the prize.

“I go by the phrase ‘one match at a time,’” Talon said. “I don’t look forward to see who I would be wrestling next. I don’t do that. Whoever I will wrestle, I’ll wrestle. Whoever I fight, I’ll fight. If people gather around to watch, people will gather around to watch. No matter what happens, I’m still going to have to go.”

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