Former UFC middleweight champ Robert Whittaker is set to face Khamzat Chimaev in Abu Dhabi after canceling their fight in June due to an injury. However, the fighter says Chimaev is no match for him.
The former middleweight champ has rebooked a fight with the undefeated Chimaev. Despite Chimaev’s unbeatable record, Whittaker shows no signs of fear. “The Reaper” recently sent a warning to “Borz.”
“As soon as he steps inside that octagon with me, he’s in deep waters. He’s already in the waters that I want him to be in,” Whittaker said to talkSport. “It’s different because I’ve never been outright disliked. But you know what, it didn’t affect me too much three months ago in Saudi Arabia. I don’t expect it to affect me too much in this fight.
“One thing is I’ve never tried to play to the crowd and that’s what they see – they see real – I’m in there to do a job. I’m in there to try and put him away, to bury Chimaev. So I’ll work on winning the crowd over after that,” Whittaker added.
Whittaker believes Chimave is currently one of the toughest o[opponents in the division. However, he is confident that once he gets his hands on the Chechen, it’ll end with a stoppage.
“In any way possible,” Whittaker said. “I’ve left no stone unturned, and I’ve trained my heart out for this. I’m going to get in there. I’ve got 25 minutes with him. I’m looking to try and take his head off the entire 25 minutes. But, I’ve addressed every skill set for this fight.”
Robert Whittaker enters the bout with a 26-7 record and is coming off a KO win over Ikram Aliskerov back in June. He was originally supposed to fight Chimaev on that date, but ‘Borz’ withdrew. The former middleweight champion has notable wins over Paulo Costa, Jared Cannonier, Yoel Romero, Jacare Souza, and Marvin Vettori, among others.
Khamzat Chimaev, meanwhile, is 13-0 as a pro and coming off a majority decision win over Kamaru Usman. Chimaev is 7-0 in the UFC and has notable wins over Kevin Holland, Gilbert Burns, and Li Jingliang.
Despite this being a huge fight in the middleweight title picture, the winner will likely have to wait for the culmination of Dricus Du Plessis Sean Strickland before they are afforded a title shot, with that fight being targeted for the beginning of next year.
