Robert Whittaker is weighing on a hypothetical combat between UFC gentle heavyweight champ Alex Pereira and the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev.
Over the previous few days, rumors circulated about an out-of-nowhere matchup between the 2 well-liked rivals. Whittaker, who just lately suffered a first-round submission loss to Chimaev at UFC 308 in October, has seen the social media dialogue concerning the matchup, and mentioned it on his MMArcade podcast.
“Chimaev [would win], simply,” Whittaker stated. “Not simply, [but] Chimaev although [is my pick].”
Chimaev is in prime place to combat for the middleweight title in his subsequent combat following his brutal end of Whittaker. Dricus du Plessis is about to defend the belt in opposition to Sean Strickland in a rematch at February’s UFC 312 occasion.
Pereira might face prime contender Magomed Ankalaev after three profitable title defenses in 2024, however “Poatan” has already teased that won’t be his subsequent opponent. The Brazilian star has additionally been referred to as out a number of occasions by heavyweight champion Jon Jones for a superfight.
But when the UFC have been to one way or the other put collectively a Pereira vs. Chimaev matchup, regardless that Whittaker feels assured Chimaev would win, he does see a possible nightmare scenario for “Borz.”
“I don’t know, until the [light] heavyweight power change is a dynamic that Chimaev can’t take [him down]… Chimaev will get the takedown,” Whittaker defined. “He’s good at what he does, performs into his power.
“However, let’s say hypothetically, [if] Chimaev slows down, gasses somewhat bit, Pereira gained’t. He can strike asleep, lifeless drained. He’s been doing it his entire life. He’ll kill Chimaev within the standup. It gained’t be just like the Usman-Chimaev combat the place Usman was type of out-boxing him somewhat bit at that interval when Chimaev obtained drained. It’ll be a slaughter [if he does that with Pereira].”
