Khamzat Chimaev ruled out by UFC veteran in potential fight against Robert Whittaker
UFC veteran Henry Cejudo ruled out Khamzat Chimaev as the winner in a potential bout against former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. 'Triple-C' made the remark about 'Borz' in relation to 'The Reaper' in an interview with MMA journalist Helen Yee.
While Cejudo said that he likes the potential matchup between Chimaev and Whittaker, he gave his list of reasons as to why he doesn't think 'Borz' will win that fight. Here's what the former UFC double-champ said:
"I don't think he'll win that fight. I really don't, because Whittaker's no joke, man. Whittaker will get up [if he gets taken down]. He's a bigger man too, and he can strike. You know, you don't need to be a wrestler to really understand [wrestling] defense. You just need to know how to defend [takedowns] and get back up [when taken down]."
Skip to 3:00 for Henry Cejudo's thoughts on Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker:
Henry Cejudo continued by saying that if Robert Whittaker manages to stay on his feet, Khamzat Chimaev could find himself in trouble. He added that it would be better for 'Borz' to accept a three-round fight as a co-main event for his possible headliner fight against Aljamain Sterling in May.
Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev: 'Good guy vs. Bad guy'
Robert Whittaker was supposed to meet Paulo Costa at UFC 284. However, the fight didn't pan out as Costa failed to reach contract negotiations with the UFC. Describing Costa's decision not to fight as an act of "running away," Khamzat Chimaev said the following in an interview with Red Corner MMA:
"I think I will fight Robert Whittaker. 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's a solid guy, doesn't talk thrash, doesn't cross any lines. We are going to have fun at the press conference and fight each other."
Skip to 3:14 for the part where Khamzat Chimaev talks about fighting Robert Whittaker:
'Borz' even put out an Instagram post of himself and 'The Reaper' with the caption:
"Good guy vs. Bad guy, let's make it happen."
Whittaker responded to Khamzat Chimaev's call-out in an interview with Submission Radio. Here's what he said:
"I [didn't see the tweet. I didn't know he wanted to fight me]. Now, I know. Yeah, cool. Let's do it. If it's a fight that gets presented to me - it is what it is. Yeah, I think it'll be a good fight, it'll 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'm a hard fight for him."
Skip to 7:56 for Whittaker's response:
Robert Whittaker last fought Marvin Vettori in a winning effort at UFC Fight Night 209. In his last 15 fights, 'The Reaper' has only lost twice and both times were to Israel Adesanya.