There’s no doubt in Whittaker’s mind that he’s getting a middleweight title shot with a win over Chimaev at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi.
Robert Whittaker is one win away from a middleweight title shot. All he has to do is get past the ‘super scary’ Khamzat Chimaev in Abu Dhabi on October 26th to claim it.
That’s how important “The Reaper” sees his UFC 308 fight against Chimaev being. In a new interview with Submission Radio, Whittaker said he was done gatekeeping the top of the division.
“No, I beat Chimaev, I’m fighting for the belt next,” he said. “Like, that’s it. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. I just got to make sure that I put all the chips and I cross all the t’s, dot all the i’s, and get to Abu Dhabi top of my game.”
The UFC has said Sean Strickland would be next for new middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis, but they haven’t been so outspoken on the issue that Whittaker couldn’t sneak into the No. 1 contender’s circle with a powerful performance over the undefeated Khamzat.
Chimaev is a slight -190 favorite over the +160 Whittaker.
“I don’t think they overlooked my wrestling skills as much as they pump up Chimaev’s,” Whittaker said. “But he’s really good at what he does.”
“I’m not going into a boxing fight. We’re not going into a wrestling fight. It is MMA and there are so many roads to victory. And I understand that holistically I’m really good. Like, I’m it’s harder to take me down when I’m throwing punches and kicks at your face.”
Kamaru Usman laid out a gameplan to beat Khamzat Chimaev: you weather the storm in the early rounds and then take over after Chimaev gets tired. Usman only had three rounds to work with, but Whittaker will have five … or at least we hope he will.
Chimaev vs. Whittaker was originally announced as a special five round co-main event for UFC 308, but is currently shown on the UFC’s website as a mid-card affair under Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov. We don’t particularly care where the fight goes down on the pay-per-view, but there was some speculation the fight was being switched to three rounds — at Chimaev’s request due to recent health issues?
Not so, according to Whittaker. When asked on social media if the fight was three or five rounds, he confirmed it was five. Which certainly makes things much more interesting, strategy wise.