Khamzat Chimaev is a scary man, with a scary record in the UFC. He has rag-dolled many of his opponents with ease. But none of that is making Robert Whittaker lose any sleep ahead of their fight for the UFC’s first-ever event in Saudi Arabia.
‘Bobby Knuckles’ has given hundreds of interviews for this fight and each time has backed his skills over the Swede. Recently he appeared in an interview with ESPN MMA, where he spoke about his upgraded skill set and the plans to catch the Chechen fighter completely off guard.
Whittaker is known to put on a sh put out a display of his indomitable spirit in his previous fight against the famed Paulo Costa at UFC 298, which saw the 33-year-old get rocked by a vicious head kick from his Brazilian rival in the final seconds of the first round but refused to tap out.
As exciting as that sounds, ‘The Reaper’ has revealed that he doesn’t plan on getting into such vulnerable situations against Chimaev. But there’s not exactly a lot of scope for errors when one is faced with Chimaev’s wrestling prowess.
While Whittaker opined that he would be cautious of ‘Borz’s’ high-level wrestling, he saw no reason to be afraid of it. The Australian middleweight said,
“I’ll bring in an arsenal of skillset that he’s not ready for, I believe. Obviously [I’ll] not play with his strengths by engaging in wrestling. But, [I’ll] not be afraid of it. I can wrestle with the best, I’ve shown and proved that.”
Chimaev stands as an undefeated fighter in his pro-MMA career to date. But ‘Borz’s last fight against the former UFC welterweight champ, Kamaru Usman had fans and MMA pundits pointing out how his in-octagon performances had declined since his bout with COVID-19. Chiamev’s skills seem impregnable at the moment but Whittaker’s upgraded skills might just put it to the test.
Can Robert Whittaker end The Chechen Wolf’s reign of terror?
Apart from being an efficient striker, Whittaker also holds the credit of being a former UFC middleweight champion. Bobby Knuckles’ track record also shows that he evolves with each fight. He comes with very specific plans but isn’t afraid to throw in the dice and mix it up to see what happens. Whittaker is also a great striker, something that Chimaev hasn’t necessarily dealt with before in the UFC.
But as Whittaker himself opined, he needs to be extremely cautious about Chimaev’s high-level wrestling. Borz’s performances against the UFC welterweights, Li Xingliang and Kevin Holland have shown that even a one-second mistake could cost Whittaker the entire fight. So stay tuned for 23 June and we will have an answer to the question.
