Media Bragging Rights: Whittaker vs Chimaev - Who wins and how?

[cereal gan]

khamzat full mount tko

 

[DoctorStoppage]

Khamzat by RNC

 

[geardo]

Khamzat KO/TKO.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

Whittaker by TKO after round 2. I think the third or fourth.

 

[mkt]

Rickson by arm bar.

On second thought, Rickson's one loss which he doesn't like to admit was to Ron Tripp in sambo. And Khamzat has won some sambo tournaments. So I'm perplexed.

 

[Bork Neslar]

Bobby by submission (punches).

 

[Chael_Sonnen]

Rob TKO round 1.

I gave the same prediction last time. It was right, although wrong opponent.

Rob catches him with a right hand relatively early and Khamzat never recovers.

 

[mangokush]

It will be like Brunson vs Whittaker

Khamzat will try to bumrush TDs on Whittaker with no setup with the strikes and gas himself out trying and then Rob will take over & finish Khamzat with strikes

Will be over within a round

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

I am going with Whittaker by decision, and I think it will be close, won't be surprised if its a split decision type of fight

 

[usernamee]

Chimaev taking Whittaker down a bunch in 1st round but Whittaker keeps popping back up after that it's mainly a striking affair and maybe Chimaev survives to go to the decision.

 

[Rio Ferdinand]

Pretty obvious that Khamzat will submit Rob within the first 2 rounds. I'd be shocked if he didn't.

Also, Robs chin is almost gone by now. A gust of wind and he does the chicken dance.

Styles make fights and strikers don't fare well against elite wrestlers.

 

[filthybliss]

This fight is weird. Khamzat's wrestling is something that Rob has to override. If he is able to minimize the takedowns, I think Rob wins via KO or decision. Khamzat's hands aren't that elite.

 

[Ayreon]

Rob via submission RNC

 

[DudeBroMMA]

Tough style match up for Khamzat + his psyche seems very different.

Whether its the injuries/illness or maybe becoming a father, he's not his usual unhinged self. I think that level of crazy worked for Khamzat who probably thought he was unbeatable.

Rob by TKO Round 3

 

[mkess101]

No because Khamzat would lose a kickboxing match to most guys. He has power and does well standing because most are anticipating takedowns. Burns is a case of removing his most powerful weapon.

I think Khamzat would do good against guys like Whittaker, DDP, Strickland, but then struggle like hell with Robocop.

But he didn't finish Usman either. Usman who was coming up a weight class and took the fight on short notice. And unlike Burns, Usman doesn't have world class bjj off his back. He was absolutely worried about the TD because while Usman made a HOF career in large part out of his offensive wrestling, his defensive wrestling waned a lot as he aged. Leon had some success even by putting Kamaru on his back.

Now, that said Chimaev did have Usman in a helluva spot in rd 1. So obviously if he gets Bobby there, he could finish. But Khamzat also faded BADLY after 10 minutes that he largely controlled. He lost rd 3 to Kamaru and if that was a 5 rounder he wouldn't have survived 10 more minutes.

 

[Wreckless]

The poll results show how big recency bias is. I don't think anyone would have predicted Whittaker by TKO/KO before his last fight. In fact a lot of people started calling him a boring decision machine.

 

[188912345]

The poll results show how big recency bias is. I don't think anyone would have predicted Whittaker by TKO/KO before his last fight. In fact a lot of people had started calling him a boring decision machine.

Agreed, his last finish before that was 90 months ago vs Jacare. In round 2. He has one finish past round 2, a 3rd round finish at WW 2013.

 

[BFoe]

I don’t think this goes the distance, it’ll either be Khamzat early or Whittaker late. There are holes in Khamzat’s striking, his cardio has been a bit of a question, and he’s never been in a 5 rounder before. He also weighed in pretty late the other day which makes me wonder further how his cardio might hold up.

I’ll take Whittaker to weather the early storm and finish Khamzat in the 3rd or 4th round.

 

[OldBoy91]

I'm more confident in Rob knowing it's 5 rounds, but I just don't know if he can get out of that opening 5 minutes unscathed enough to win the remainder if the fight.

I'll say Rob by decision, but no bragging rights even if it happens because I'm about as low confidence in it as it's possible to be.

 

[markantony20]

I think Khamzat by either first or second round KO/TKO or UD.