The UFC announced last week that their first main event to take place in Saudi Arabia will be a middleweight fight between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev.
This fight will mark Khamzat Chimaev‘s first main event and the promotion’s first event in Saudi Arabia. Chimaev last fought against former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman at UFC 294, defeating him over a three-round decision.
Robert Whittaker on the other hand returned to the win column last time out, picking up an impressive win against Paulo Costa at UFC 298.
Michael Bisping believes it could be a ‘disastrous’ fight for Chimaev
UFC commentator Michael Bisping has offered his opinion on the fight, stating that Chimaev’s corner should be ‘concerned’, as the undefeated fighter has shown cardio issues several times over his last few fights.
“This is the first five-round fight (Chimaev’s) been in, which automatically if you’re in the corner of Chimaev, you’ve got to be concerned.” Bisping said on the Believe You Me podcast.
“One thing Robert Whittaker is not going to do is run out of gas. He’s very experienced in fighting at the highest level for a long time. Without getting into the X’s and O’s the obvious thing is Khamzat always gasses.” Bisping added.
The two occasions in which Chimaev’s gas tank has come into question were against Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns. For his UFC 273 fight against Burns, all three judges scored the second round for the Brazilian, with Khamzat rallying back in round three.
After scoring a 10-8 round against ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ in round one of their fight in October, he then went on to lose round two on two judges’ scorecards, with one of them also scoring round three for Usman, resulting in the majority decision.
Bisping has claimed that if the 29-year-old cannot score an early finish, it could end up being ‘disastrous’ for him.
“He’s a tremendous force of nature, the way he takes people down and dominates them right from the opening bell, he did the same thing against Kamaru Usman, granted didn’t get the finish but he did slow down. Against Gilbert Burns, the same thing he had a great round one, and then two and three were kind of close.
“Five rounds against somebody like Robert Whittaker, if he can’t finish him early, that could be a disastrous night for him in Saudi Arabia.” Bisping explained.
A number one contender fight for the middleweight title
Despite it being Chimaev’s first UFC main event, it comes with big stakes attached to it. When he announced the fight, Dana White explained how it would be a number one contender fight, with the winner fighting for the 185lb title next.
Dricus Du Plessis currently sits on the middleweight throne with his next fight being rumored to be against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia.
Robert Whittaker of course has history with both of those names, losing his title to Adesanya back in 2019, and then losing to him again when he challenged for the title three years later. A loss to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290 saw him miss out on another title fight against ‘The Last Stylebender’.
Chimaev on the other hand has previously been linked to Israel Adesanya, as it seemed he would make his official move to middleweight against the former middleweight champion, but the fight never came to fruition.