There is no doubt that people were pumped up to see Khamzat Chimaev finally face Robert Whittaker at UFC 308. However, no one would have expected ‘Borz’ to get away with such a dominant win, considering his health woes and a long hiatus from the octagon. But he proved everyone wrong as he successfully submitted Whittaker in round 1. Now, he may have impressed many, but Conor McGregor isn’t one of them!

Right at the beginning of the fight, Chimaev shot for a takedown. And the speed with which he did it would surely make ‘The Flash’ shy away. But Whittaker wasn’t quick to give up. Despite giving up his back, ‘The Reaper’ didn’t let Chimaev take his neck, and he escaped for a pretty short moment before ‘Borz’ pounced back on his opponent. But with just 3:34 reading on the clock, the ‘Chechen Wolf’ submitted ‘The Reaper’ with a rear naked choke. 

Here’s the thing: As Chimaev clashed against his opponent and took him right against the fence at the beginning of the bout, the commentators seemed to believe the wolf was on a hunt. However, McGregor didn’t seem to believe that. He took to X and wrote, “Hunt? Backing up against the fence opening bell is hunting?”

Further, ‘Mystic Mac’ wrote, “Abysmal”, as he watched Khamzat Chimaev tap his opponent out. Needless to say, not training till exhaustion did help the ‘Chechen Wolf’ in the co-main event. After all, he simply couldn’t afford to pull out once again. While the world, seemingly including Conor McGregor, was pretty skeptical of Chimaev, owing to his long period of inactivity, he proved once again why he is called the ‘Chechen Wolf’.

There was a little bit of grief and frustration hidden in the Irish fighter’s tweet, though. He had, in fact, put his $500,000 bet on Robert Whittaker’s victory via KO. Little did he know that Chimaev had taken an ample amount of rest and trained well in order to lengthen his winning streak. He now has a 14-0 record with nine wins in round 1. So, what’s next for him?

Khamzat Chimaev desires the middleweight championship belt!

During the post-fight press conference, the ‘Chechen Wolf’ weighed in on the probability of fighting the light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira. Chimaev said, “I talked about three belts from long time ago. So, of course, I want to go up. But Dana White, what the UFC wants, I don’t know, man.”

But first, ‘Borz’ has to claim the MW throne, before moving up in the weight class. He continued, “So if they give me first as a [fight] in my weight class, [then I] need to take the belt, then I’m gonna think about it as well.”

And with this, Chimaev has seemingly booked his ticket to a shot at the 185lbs title in the future. He will also receive a major push up the rankings due to his recent win. As previously hinted by Dana White, ‘Borz’ will most probably scrap it out against the winner of Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland’s rematch. All that being said, the fighter will also have to focus on his health first, as that has been his biggest struggle.

As for Robert Whittaker, he might have to pick a few wins before he can get back on the path to the division gold. It will be interesting to see where his career goes from here. But first, he needs to recover from the injuries. His loss against Chimaev marked the first time he has been submitted in the UFC. A face crank forced ‘Bobby Knuckles’ to tap out and, as per images circulated on the internet, his jaw could have been messed up.

In fact, during the post-fight press conference, Dana White stated, “As soon as that happened, I picked up the phone and I called the truck. “They’re like, ‘Yeah, his jaw popped’. So, I knew what happened, because I didn’t know what happened either or why he tapped so quick.”

Who do you want to see Robert Whittaker clash against next? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.