Khamzat Chimaev vs Robert Whittaker Prediction: The moment of truth for the Chechen fighter

On 22 June, Saudi Arabia will host a huge UFC tournament. In one of the main event bouts, Chechen fighter Khamzat Chimaev will face former champion Robert Whittaker.

Khamzat Chimaev competes more often in the welterweight division, and in the middleweight division, he has had only three fights in the UFC - against John Phillips (won by submission), against Gerald Merschart (won by knockout), and against Kamaru Usman (won by majority decision).

This guy has no defeats in his professional career so far, but the hype train, which gained maximum speed at the turn of 2020-2021, has gradually slowed down. It's all about the strength of the opposition going up, and the wins aren't as dominant anymore. Khamzat has had two fights against top fighters in the last two years and experienced serious problems in each of them.

The fight with Gilbert Burns was mostly stand-up and surprisingly, Khamzat himself often avoided parterre. On the feet he was not quite brilliant - he was knocked down twice, and the number of punches he struck was significantly inferior. Nevertheless, the judges gave the victory to him.

The fight with Kamaru Usman also turned out to be very close, despite the fact that Usman fought out of his weight. Chimaev won the first round by wrestling, but the second and third rounds were very close and somehow uneventful. One of the judges saw a draw, and the other two gave Khamzat the final victory.

But Robert Whittaker will definitely be more dangerous than both Burns and Usman, and the fight is scheduled for five rounds, which will probably add even more difficulties for Khamzat Chimaev.

Robert Whittaker became middleweight champion in 2017 - you all remember his epic two fights with Yoel Romero. Two years later, he lost to Israel Adesanya, then had five wins and two losses. In his last fight, Robert beat Paolo Costa, but could not finish.

Noting Rob's strengths, we should mention his excellent footwork and timing, with the help of which he regularly confuses the opponents. But if you take a closer look, you'll notice that he's been making a lot of mistakes lately. As for wrestling, we rarely see it in Whittaker's performance; he doesn't provoke it often, he doesn't look for submissions, and he defends well.

Whittaker needs to withstand the initial pressure of Chimaev to win, and then he'll find his game. And it should be noted that Robert knows how to withstand the initial attack, he prefers to play long and he has already had to do it many times, and against the most top opponents. That's why we consider the main problem for Khamzat to be the championship rounds, in which Whittaker has plenty of experience while Chimaev has none at all.

In the bookmakers' quotes, Khamzat Chimaev is quite a big favorite, but we will make a timid assumption that everything here is not so simple. Whittaker hasn't said his last word yet, he hasn't said goodbye to his dreams of regaining the belt, and he's quite capable of preparing something that the Chechen fighter hasn't faced yet.