Robert Whittaker is confident that he can go toe-to-toe with Khamzat Chimaev.
Whittaker will aim to hand Chimaev his first career loss in the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia on June 22nd. ‘Bobby Knuckles’ admits the key to victory lies in staying on his feet and playing the game, but ‘Bolts’ isn’t afraid to grapple
“It’s about going out and imposing my game plan on him and seeing how he adapts to me, because I have an arsenal of skill sets that he’s not ready for. I believe it’s because I’m there,” Whittaker recently told ESPN Australia. “And the shortest path to victory is to go there and obviously not play to his strengths. That’s not attractive.” Struggle, but don’t be afraid of it. I can wrestle with the best of them and I have shown and proven that. So, I’m going to go out there, I’m going to fight my battles, I’m going to fight stand-up fights, I’m going to see where it goes, I’m going to drag it out . It’s a 5 round fight. I’ve been through a lot of things like that, but I have no intention of giving up. So let’s see how this goes. ”
While Chimaev continued to fight on the ground with essentially all of his early Ultimate Fighting Championship opponents, “Bolts” continued to fight for the money against elite competitors like Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman. I was given a run. Meanwhile, Whittaker boasts the best takedown defense in the history of the division at 82% and has proven his mettle against elite grapplers in the past. “The Grim Reaper” is also confident in Chimaev’s grappling skills.
“He’s definitely good at jiu-jitsu, but he combines it really well with wrestling,” Whittaker said. “And it’s the combination of those two that a lot of guys aren’t ready for, taking advantage of it against the wall or just using his strength with his long arms and tall build to push him. I think it’s going to be really MMA-ish, like doing things like that.”His game plan is to be on the fence and push it into the ground. And I definitely think it’s very dangerous for him to be there, but I’ve struggled all my life. I’m very confident in my skill set. Even if it was a pure wrestling, jiu-jitsu format, I would protect myself that way even if I didn’t get the ‘W’. ”
Whittaker is fresh off a unanimous decision victory over Paulo Costa at UFC 298 in February. Chimaev, on the other hand, has not fought since defeating Usman by majority decision in his middleweight debut at UFC 294 in October 2023.
