Khamzat Chimaev may not have been able to make it to UFC Saudi Arabia on Saturday night, but he was watching closely.
The middleweight contender was due to face Robert Whittaker in the main event of last night’s Riyadh card, but was forced out due to a ‘violent illness’. Instead, Ikram Aliskerov, whose sole loss was against Chimaev, stepped in on short notice to save the day.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a fairytale story for the Russian as he was brutally knocked out in the first round after being rocked and dropped early. Whittaker is now pushing to step in as the back-up for August’s UFC 305 headliner, but Chimaev still fancies his chances.
Khamzat Chimaev reacts to Robert Whittaker’s massive KO win at UFC Saudi Arabia
Khamzat Chimaev has been out of action since October of last year, when he took his most impressive scalp to date against Kamaru Usman. He hadn’t been scheduled to fight since, and will now have to wait another few months for his next outing.
It will set a worrying trend for the Swede, who appears to now be fighting just once a year following a similar lengthy absence after his win at UFC 279 against Kevin Holland. But he is raring to go against Whittaker, sending a frightening message on social media.
Writing on X in Russian and translated by the app, he said: “Congratulations @robwhittakermma, we are not done!” He also sent a message of support to Aliskerov, whom he fought in their early days. “I wish you a speedy recovery @ikram_aliskerov keep your head up my brother.”
Robert Whittaker keen to step in for August middleweight title opportunity at UFC 305
Unfortunately for Whittaker, the time for Chimaev may be up. Dana White was impressed by the idea of the Australian weighing in as a back-up for Israel Adesanya’s middleweight title challenge against Dricus Du Plessis this August at UFC 305.
And after agreeing with the idea in the cage, he further elaborated on his desire for a rematch with Du Plessis, who outside of Adesanya is the only man to beat him at 185lb. “Look at the paperwork,” he told reporters at the post-fight press conference.
“Since that fight, I’ve only improved. I’ve only gotten better. I’m not saying that if I was on, I would’ve beaten him. I’m not going to take that away from him. He turned up on the night and beat me fair and square and now he’s the world champion because of it.
“He’s a good fighter. He’s good at what he does. But I know I can do better. Will I beat him? Maybe he gets his hand raised again, but I know I can do better and I know I didn’t put my best foot forward in that fight and I want to run it back because of that.”
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