Khamzat Chimaev's UFC journey has been filled with several ups and downs and this coming weekend at UFC 308, he has the chance to finally earn himself a middleweight title shot.
It has been over a year since Khamzat Chimaev stepped foot in the UFC Octagon when he took on Kamaru Usman on short notice at UFC 294.
Despite picking up the biggest win of his career thus far, Chimaev's momentum was once again halted as he continued to suffer health complications which delayed his next outing.
Throughout his four-year UFC tenure, 'Borz' has continuously suffered health complications that have seemed to never be rectified and have begun to plague his career and reputation.
In an attempt to overcome his continuous issues ahead of his UFC 308 fight, the 30-year-old has teamed back up with his old wrestling coach and has changed his training regime to allow for proper rest and recovery.
Now just a few days out from his huge fight against Robert Whittaker, Chimaev is in good spirits and has opened up about overcoming depression because of his career setbacks.
"Well, you could say that my depression has disappeared. There were a lot of problems before, I solved a lot of things. Thank God, everything is fine now. I'm human too, I also have my own problems. They needed to be solved," Chimaev told Adam Zubayraev.
"I got caught in depression and there was a lot going on. Well now, I've decided everything, thank God. I've moved to another team, everything is great. Doctors, pharmacologists, nutritionists, everyone. I've never had such a team.
"I even usually took vitamins incorrectly before. I was just training in the gym and fighting. Everyone thought I woke up and fought," Chimaev continued.
'Borz's' UFC career has been competed at both 170lbs and 185lbs, and before moving up to middleweight more permanently, he was extremely close to earning a welterweight title shot.
However, after continuously struggling with the cut to 170lbs, the UFC gave the Chechen a nudge to middleweight where he has looked far more comfortable on the scales.
Despite that, with UFC CEO Dana White having recently admitted that Sean Strickland will likely be the next middleweight title challenger, Chimaev has claimed that he is willing to move back down to welterweight if he is given a title shot.
"If they give (me a 170lb title shot) why not? I've beat everyone (at welterweight) so just give me the title, and I'll go down there," Chimaev told Kevin Iole.