In the UFC 308 co-main event this Saturday, Khamzat Chimaev took a giant leap toward the middleweight title after beating former champion, Robert Whittaker.
After their originally scheduled fight this past June fell through because of ongoing health issues on the side of Khamzat Chimaev, the UFC decided to re-book it for the UFC 308 co-main event, scheduled for five rounds.
‘Borz’ made several changes to his fight camp this time around, though, making sure that he no longer suffers unnecessary health complications and he painted a calm picture throughout fight week.
Khamzat Chimaev reacts to image of Robert Whittaker’s jaw following UFC 308 submission win
This fight was being highlighted as undoubtedly the toughest fight of Chimaev’s career so far and it was set to show the fans whether the 30-year-old is who he claims to be.
Within a few seconds of the first round, Chimaev sprung across the cage, shooting and landing a huge double-leg takedown on Robert Whittaker.
The Chechen controlled the back of Whittaker, who initially did well to keep Chimaev away from his back and away from any choke attempts, but the relenting pressure of Chimaev’s wrestling quickly became too much.
After sliding down the side of the former champion and locking in the body triangle, Chimaev began to land a few unique elbows on the chin of Whittaker. Shortly after he sunk in a crushing rear-naked choke which quickly produced a tap from the Australian.
The commentary team of Jon Anik, Daniel Cormier, and Paul Felder questioned whether Whittaker suffered a dislocated jaw as he began clutching at that area, as the choke wasn’t under the neck.
On the broadcast following the event, Cormier showed a graphic image of Whittaker’s jaw after examination after the fight.
“Before I came in here they showed it to me, I felt something was wrong with his chin when I pushed it, I felt bad for that, I didn’t mean to break someone’s chin but it’s my work to make somebody (feel) pain and make me happy,” Chimaev admitted in the post-fight press conference.
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Dana White reacts to Khamzat Chimaev’s win over Whittaker
Immediately following Chimaev’s win, UFC CEO Dana White ran over to congratulate the 30-year-old for a great fight and win.
The UFC boss previously claimed that Sean Strickland would be next to take on champion Dricus Du Plessis, but recently went back on his word and said he’d wait for the culmination of Chimaev vs Whittaker to make the decision.
With ‘Borz’ winning in such impressive fashion, he may have leapfrogged Strickland and may find himself as the next middleweight title challenger.
“As soon as that happened, I picked the phone up and I called the truck and they’re like, ‘Yeah, his jaw popped’, so I knew what had happened because I didn’t know what happened either why he tapped so quick.
“Yeah, he popped his jaw, so when you do that, it splits and the teeth get all messed up, Rob has that right now,” White explained in the post-fight presser.
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