I’m worried about Rob against Khamzat

[Cowboy Kurt Angle]

I’m getting worried about Whittaker. Rob has been my favourite fighter for awhile , but he’s getting older and seems to bring stock piling injury’s or disadvantages. The Dricus fight he had a broken ankle, the Costa fight he had the flu, and something was wrong with his head apparently when he fought Ikram. I’m worried that Khamzats going to rag doll Rob because of the adjustments he makes, like training at altitude and whatnot. I’m just not as confident in Rob beating Khamzat this time; I feel like he would have beat Khamzat in Saudi Arabia.

 

[Question]

I think he might do a decent job defending the takedowns, but that'll it be enough of a threat which will open Rob up on the feet
Rob seems to be going into this one with a wrestling heavy mindset as well, Khamzat isn't a great striker but he can crack from time to time.

He stance switches too, which does seem to be a hard thing for Rob to get a read on at times(Izzy, WB, Cannonier, DDP), while those guys are better strikers compared to Khamzat from what we've seen, if he combines it with a takedown threat he can present some issues and hurt Rob who doesn't have a great chin

I'm very 50/50 on this one, should be interesting

 

[jeff7b9]

Accept the worst possible outcome and make peace with it.

Rob is a warrior and has proven his worth many times. He will be fine.

He has 5-8 minutes or so of danger to navigate then he should have a clear cardio edge.

 

[drphil]

Relax khamzats pulling out any minute now...

 

[Tweak896]

Whittaker was demolished by DDP in every aspect, unfortunately it's going to be a hard sell that he gets a rematch/title shot. Mileage catches up to everyone.

 

[VinceArch]

This fight will show us how much Rob has left at the top. I'd love for him to get that rematch against DDP.

 

[gilbert_mma]

Khamzat's wrestling is not that difficult to counter, your average highschool wrestler should be able to defend it pretty easily. He was able to ragdoll subpar wrestlers like Ji Lingliang, Kevin Holland and Kamuru Usman, but Robert Whittaker was able to make the wrestling a stalemate against Yoel Romero, an olympic wrestler. This should be a cake walk for Whittaker. Defend the sloppy takedown attempts and out-strike him on the feet. A very easy fight to call.

 

[Bubzeh]

I wouldn’t worry, he’ll be getting paid handsomely and he’s got a solid chance of winning to be fair.

 

[Gabe]

You should be more worried for Khamzat this is far and away his toughest fight to date and Rob has a full camp.

 

[filthybliss]

Khamzat winning could spice up the division, the issue is that he fights once in a blue moon.

 

[colorles]

Khamzat's wrestling is not that difficult to counter, your average highschool wrestler should be able to defend it pretty easily. He was able to ragdoll subpar wrestlers like Ji Lingliang, Kevin Holland and Kamuru Usman, but Robert Whittaker was able to make the wrestling a stalemate against Yoel Romero, an olympic wrestler. This should be a cake walk for Whittaker. Defend the sloppy takedown attempts and out-strike him on the feet. A very easy fight to call.

lol

Romero doesn't utilize his wrestling anywhere near as aggressively as Chimaev does in mma. With that said: If whittaker can get the fight to the second round he should be favored.

 

[OldBoy91]

All hinges on the first round I think.

If Rob survives the initial onslaught, rounds 2 and 3 become a whole lot easier. Assuming Rob has anything left in the tank and hasn't been damaged beyond recovery by then.

I do think it's going to be a rough 5 minutes to start, and it all depends on whether Rob can a) survive them, and b) if he has enough left after the opening round to win the later rounds.

 

[Wreckless]

Khamzat was heading towards a loss against a broken knees, 2 fight losing streak, Usman who took the fight on 1 week notice.

He also fought tooth and nail against a former LW Gilbert Burns.

He's good, but people need to chill. He's not the monster everyone makes him out to be. Whittaker via experience and being the smarter fighter.

 

[VinceArch]

He also fought tooth and nail against a former LW Gilbert Burns.

This is quite the back handed compliment to Burns. He went through one hell of a training regimen in preparation for that fight and probably would've beaten any other fighter at 170 that night.

 

[CroCopsLHK]

Man what a pair of headliners.

If you've followed their histories and fighting styles Robert vs Chimaev is as interesting as it gets. I got Robbie personally

 

[CatchnShoot]

Khamzat's wrestling is not that difficult to counter, your average highschool wrestler should be able to defend it pretty easily. He was able to ragdoll subpar wrestlers like Ji Lingliang, Kevin Holland and Kamuru Usman, but Robert Whittaker was able to make the wrestling a stalemate against Yoel Romero, an olympic wrestler. This should be a cake walk for Whittaker. Defend the sloppy takedown attempts and out-strike him on the feet. A very easy fight to call.

lol... Khamzat is going to crush Whittaker.

It doesn't give me any great pleasure to say that, but it is what it is...Rob is just too fragile now.

 

[FilipEmoFights]

Khamzat’s forever COVID is still contagious and will infect Rob during the face offs, especially with Robs immune system stifled by the weight cut, leading to Rob pulling out so Khamzat can either also pull out, or be given a short notice against Michael Chiesa/Diego Sanchez/Nick Diaz at 185

 

[colorles]

Khamzat’s forever COVID is still contagious and will infect Rob during the face offs, especially with Robs immune system stifled by the weight cut, leading to Rob pulling out so Khamzat can either also pull out, or be given a short notice against Michael Chiesa/Diego Sanchez/Nick Diaz at 185

There are three other middleweight fights on the card. Pretty sure the ufc is accounting for the possibility of one of the fighters pulling out and possibly reshuffling things if they have to.

 

[Khaosan]

Dude can’t even beat the common cold.

Whittaker via right hand/hidden right high kick.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

A Khamzat loss would be nice, but I'd settle for another Rob chicken dance.