Khamzat Chimaev has been impatiently waiting for the UFC to find his next opponent so he’s doing some work on his own to secure a fight that could earn him a title shot.
On Wednesday, the undefeated Chechen called for a showdown against ex-UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker as both fighters currently sit without a fight already booked.
“Let’s get it done, good guy vs. evil guy,” Chimaev wrote on Instagram. Robert Whittaker Respect only
In the past, Chimaev wasn’t interested in Whittaker as he liked Whittaker and preferred training with him rather than fighting in the octagon.
“I like that guy so, I don’t want to fight the good guys, you know?” Chimaev said at the UFC 279 post-fight press conference this past September. “I need some bad guy, so I want to fight some bad guy, you know, and don’t feel sorry for that. I want to train with that guy, he’s really good like, you know, one of the best guys in the world.”
With fights at middleweight and welterweight in UFC, Chimaev had been teasing an upcoming showdown with Colby Covington. However, the bout never happened. Now, it appears Chimaev is turning his attention back to 185 pounds with hopes that perhaps he could take on Whittaker instead.
Following the respectful call out from Chimaev, Whittaker responded and it sounds like he’s more than happy to accept the fight as he’s also been waiting on a call from the UFC after his previously scheduled bout against Paulo Costa fell apart ahead of UFC 284 in Australia.
“Let’s do it,” Whittaker told Submission Radio. “Whatever. Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, it doesn’t matter if the fight is presented to you. Yeah, I think it’d be a good fight. I think he’d be a hard fight. I think he’s a phenomenal fighter. I think he has a lot of strengths. I think I have a lot of strengths. I think I’m a hard fighter for him just the same. And I’m quite good with my hands, can stuff a lot of takedowns. It’s hard for me to control. You can see that I am squirmy. It’ll make for an entertaining fight. It’ll certainly be an exciting fight. It’ll be a huge success and it will get lots of people excited.
“The reason why it would be a fight that’s worth making is because he’s riding the hype train, and because UFC want to bring this guy, who’s the boogeyman to a lot of guys, up in the rankings. They want him to fight me at the top of the chain so that it opens the door to whoever wins, and then jump behind. It makes no sense .”
After his fight with Costa was cancelled, Whittaker originally hoped to return to fight in March, but due to all the cards booked, he is now stuck waiting for another fight.
A fight against Chimaev could potentially put Whittaker directly in line for another title shot, especially with reigning UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira already scheduled for a rematch against Israel Adesanya at UFC 287 in April.
Chimaev has a perfect [****************************************************************************************************************************************************** **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************_______************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* Chimaev currently boasts a perfect 12-0 record including wins over Gilbert Burns and Kevin Holland in 2022.
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/2/8/23591013/khamzat-chimaev-calls-out-robert-whittaker-for-good-guy-vs-bad-guy-fight-whittaker-responds?rand=96749
