Ikram who?
Former 185-pound champion, Robert Whittaker, claims he was unfamiliar with once-beaten middleweight sensation Ikram Aliskerov, right up until the promotion called “The Reaper” to inform him that Aliskerov would be replacing the ailing Khamzat Chimaev in the UFC Saudi Arabia main event this weekend in Riyadh.
More on that lineup change here.
“I hadn’t heard of him or seen him fight before that,” Whittaker told New York Post Sports. “Sometimes you’ve got to just take things as they come. I have full faith in my skillset and my ability. There’s not a lot of tape out there on him. There’s not too much, to be honest. My skillset adapts pretty well to a lot of different fighters. I jumped into the gym that day and worked on different angles and things that I can work on. More or less just strengthen my own skillset, keep sharpening my own weapons.”
Aliskerov, whose only loss came against Chimaev in early 2019, is calling bullish*t.
“I think he was lying,” Aliskerov told Red Corner MMA. “I’m sure he rewatched my fight with Khamzat a million times because he was preparing for him. I think [he’ll remember my name]. He’ll have to fight me for five rounds. After I took the fight, I called Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. He said, ‘You can’t miss these chances. You have to fly here, sweat for two-three days.’ We discussed [the fight], but I won’t get into it.”
Aliskerov (15-1) was already in camp and preparing for Antonio Trocoli at UFC Vegas 93 when he got the call to step in against Whittaker. Despite his inexperience against Top 10 competition, the Russian bruiser is only a slight underdog for this weekend’s headliner.
For the rest of the UFC Saudi Arabia fight card and ABC lineup click here.