Robert Whittaker sees Khamzat Chimaev’s grappling being an excessive amount of for UFC mild heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
Whittaker skilled Chimaev’s grappling prowess first hand when he was rapidly submitted by the undefeated star of their middleweight matchup this previous October at UFC 308.
After Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) teased that his subsequent battle might be a curveball, Whittaker assessed how a hypothetical matchup between Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) and “Poatan” would go at 205 kilos.
“I noticed a rumor that Chimaev would possibly go up and battle Pereira,” Whittaker mentioned on his MMArcade Podcast. “Think about that. Chimeav (will win). Not simply, Chimaev although. Except the heavyweight power modifications the dynamic. Chimaev will get the takedown and it’s simply that he’s good at what he does, he performs into his strengths.”
Nonetheless, if Chimaev can’t sustain his intense tempo all through, Whittaker thinks Pereira will closely make him pay on the ft.
“However let’s say hypothetically, Chimaev slows down, gasses a bit bit, Pereira received’t,” Whittaker mentioned. “He can strike asleep, lifeless drained, dude’s been doing it his entire life. He’ll kill Chimaev in a standup.
“It received’t be like that (Kamaru) Usman-Chimaev battle the place Usman was sort of outboxing him a bit bit at that interval when Chimaev received drained. Will probably be a slaughter. However does it go that far?”
Whittaker (27-8 MMA, 17-6 UFC) had his tooth crushed in his first-round submission loss to Chimaev, requiring him to endure dental surgical procedure.
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