A few months ago Khamzat Chimaev indicated that he was interested in fighting a “nice guy” like Robert Whittaker, stating that there were plenty of people he didn’t like to beat up first, but it seems he’s now changed his mind.
Not that the 28-year-old’s opinion on the former middleweight champion has changed, but Chimaev just thinks it’s a fight that makes sense for him at this stage as he looks to keep himself busy while waiting on a potential title opportunity back down at welterweight.
“I think I will fight Robert Whittaker,” Chimaev told Red Corner MMA. “He’s got no opponent. Paulo Costa ran away after talking that much about me and Robert. So, I will fight Whittaker. I want this fight although I like him as a human being. He is a solid guy, doesn’t talk trash, doesn’t cross any lines.
“We are going to have fun at the press conference and fight each other.”
Up until this point Whittaker has jokingly been saying that he’s glad Chimaev hasn’t been interested in fighting him after admitting he was impressed with his rampant rise through the UFC ranks, but now that he’s been called out ‘The Reaper’ appears to be up for the challenge.
“Let’s do it,” Whittaker told Submission Radio. “Whatever. Yeah, I don’t know. Like, if it’s a fight that gets presented to me, then it is what it is. 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. I’m hard to hold down. I’m squirmy, you see. Yeah, it’ll be an interesting fight. That’ll be a showstopper for sure. I’m sure it’ll get a lot of people interested and 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. That’s the only reason it makes sense.”
