Whittaker faced Chimaev in potential middleweight title eliminator at UFC 308 on Oct. 26. Chimaev wasted no time in taking Whittaker down before sinking in a face crank that injured the former champion’s jaw, forcing a stoppage in the opening frame.
Whittaker was immensely impressed by Chimaev’s takedowns. While “Bobby Knuckles” felt comfortable for a while on the feet, there was no getting away once Chimaev committed to the takedown. Despite having worked on his wrestling a lot in training camp, Whittaker couldn’t find anyone to replicate the Chechen-born Swede. Whittaker further noted that it isn’t Chimaev’s strength, but his chain wrestling that is most difficult to defend.
“I felt real comfortable standing with him,’ Whittaker recently said on the MMA Arcade podcast. “Then, the dude drops like a millimeter — how do you stop that takedown?... We did a lot of wrestling, we did a lot of stuff, we did a lot of wall work, but it’s so hard to replicate that sort of takedown, that sort of commitment. And props to him. Guy knows his strength and played into them to a tee, and is willing to burn it all there for it.
“He has a really heavy sag. He is not ridiculously strong or anything like that. But he had a really heavy sag. And he was really good at making me work. Like he was really good at making sure he was active. He was always reaching for underhooks, reaching for ankle picks, trying to get a hook in.”
Whittaker recently underwent oral surgery as a result of the submission and is targeting June for his return to the Octagon.