After Khamzat Chimaev pulled out of the main event in the UFC’s first-ever event in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ikram Aliskerov stepped in on short notice to save the main event against Robert Whittaker, the former middleweight champion. Whittaker had to adjust his game plan at the last minute because Aliskerov had a different skill set than Chimaev, and it was uncertain how the fight would play out as a result.
After landing a couple of heavy leg-kicks early on, Whittaker landed a right hand onto the side of Aliskerov’s head. His feet nearly gave way underneath him, and he stumbled back towards the fence. Whittaker narrowly missed with a head kick before delivering a devastating uppercut, which ended the fight less than halfway through the first round.
Robert Whittaker had been written off in some quarters after a second loss to former UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya just over two years ago and a defeat to Dricus du Plessis last summer at UFC 290. 2024 has proven more successful for ‘The Reaper’ as he’s defeated Paulo Costa and now Ikram Aliskerov back-to-back.
Whittaker is undoubtedly back in the middleweight title picture and has positioned himself to fight the winner of Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya, who compete at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia, in a couple of months. Given some unfortunate circumstances happening to either headliner at UFC 305, Whittaker could even see himself back in the octagon for the title in his home country as he’s expressed willingness to be the backup fighter, something which Dana White seemed more than open to as he told Oscar Willis of The Mac Life ”We’d love to have him [at UFC 305.]”
Going into the fight with Alisekerov, ‘Bobby Knuckles’ said he was expecting to be a five-round slugfest, a dogfight. It didn’t work out that way, as Whittaker won inside two minutes in Riyadh. He attributed much of this towards his mentality, that of a hunter, always looking to earn a finish in devastating fashion. Dana White was asked whether he was surprised at the speed in which Robert Whittaker knocked out Aliskerov (1 minute 49 seconds of the first round):
”No. Robert Whittaker’s a bad dude. Robert Whittaker hurt him, he jumped on him, and you know… That kid, Aliskerov, came out of a full camp. He was supposed to fight in the co-main event last weekend. Nobody in the top fifteen wanted to fight that kid. Nobody wanted to fight him. Whittaker took him on short notice and went in there and did what he did. He looked incredible tonight.”
Chasing gold or redemption for his losses is on Whittaker’s mind, but they aren’t at the forefront of his thinking. Living up to his potential is more important to him, and every time he steps foot in the octagon, he wants to perform to the best of his ability and show everybody why he is the most dangerous man in the middleweight division.
His performance last night in Saudi Arabia makes a good case for that, and whether we see Whittaker in action at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia, one thing is for sure: a title shot can’t be that far away.
Discussion about this post