Borz is back: Why Khamzat Chimaev is only now fighting for a UFC title - ESPN

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — It's 11:30 on a Sunday morning, and Khamzat Chimaev is pacing barefoot around the one-story California home he has been living in for more than a month.

In 13 days from this moment, ESPN's No. 2-ranked middleweight will fight for a UFC title for the first time when he challenges champion Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319 in Chicago (Saturday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV; prelims at 6 p.m. on ESPN+). It's an opportunity that the undefeated Russian fighter (and the entire sport of mixed martial arts) has been anticipating for years — far longer than anyone predicted or probably imagined. But right now, «Borz» isn't thinking about any of that. He's aimlessly wandering around the living room, almost as if he's lost.

Chimaev's nutritionist and chef for this camp, Matteo Capodaglio, is meant to be preparing lunch right now, but today's itinerary has been thrown into question. Chimaev slept in and pushed back a recovery session and that was scheduled at 10 a.m. After playing video games by himself for a while and eating a late breakfast, he decided to cancel the recovery session altogether. It's fine, everything is fine. This happens, according to Johnathon Michael Knapek, a longtime member of Chimaev's management team whom everyone knows as «Sweep.» It just means no one on Chimaev's team knows exactly what to do at the moment.

«I told you this was going to be one of those days,» Sweep says to Capodaglio, his eyes still on Chimaev 10 feet away. «He's going Rodman.»

The reference, of course, is to NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman, who notoriously disappeared to Las Vegas for 48 hours in the middle of the 1998 NBA Finals before returning to help the Chicago Bulls win their third straight NBA championship. Like