Khamzat Chimaev established himself in the middleweight division once again with an extremely dominant performance against Robert Whittaker. It was a showdown that proved why the Chechen Wolf got the chance to fight an ex-champion. Well, netizens indeed had doubts about Chimaev as he was forced to pull out of his fight at UFC Riyadh because of his persistent illness. But boy were we wrong! Chimaev was all set to conquer the middleweight realm. But there was one thing about UFC 308 that we bet you didn’t know. 

UFC 308 witnessed some interesting battles. Ilia Topuria knocked out Max Holloway, Magomed Ankalaev beat Aleksandar Rakic via a unanimous decision, and Sharaputdin Magomedov finished Armen Petrosyan with double-spinning back fists. Needless to say, the event packed some really heavy punches. But everyone who won fought from the red corner. Well, all except ‘Borz’. 

Krazy Kevin recently took to X and shared the uncanny observation with the fighting community. He shared a picture of Chimaev celebrating his win and wrote, “#UFC308 Featured 13 Fights on the Card. Fighters From The Red Corner went 12-1. Khamzat Chimaev was the only Fighter from the Blue Corner to Win at 308!” Crazy right?

The bout belonged to Khamzat Chimaev from the very beginning. He had been training to finish Robert Whittaker early for quite a while. And he was hospitalized because of that. Well, the credit does go to his rigorous training, but he was training to beat ‘The Reaper’, wasn’t he? ‘Borz’ demonstrated his far superior and explosive grappling strength and even broke Whittaker’s jaw with an RNC. Even the New Zealander was impressed by Chimaev.

Robert Whittaker lifts Khamzat Chimaev up high despite a first-round defeat

During an episode of the MMArcade podcast back in November 2024, Whittaker weighed in on his fight with Chimaev. He simply couldn’t help but praise the Chechen Wolf’s performance. He announced that replicating the kind of takedown Chimaev executed at UFC 308 was nigh impossible. Whittaker said, “Props to him—the guy knows his strengths, played into them to a T, and is willing to burn it all there for it, right? Anyway, the takedown—he goes in, ankle picks me off the fence. It was a great takedown, it was a beautiful takedown.”

After dropping some appreciation for the takedown, Whittaker moved on to hype up Chimaev’s wrestling prowess. According to Whittaker, ‘Borz’ wasn’t someone who had immense strength. But the thing that took him to secure the single win for the blue corner was his “really heavy sag.” Chimaev ensured that he drained his opponent’s gas tank by using underhooks and ankle picks, preventing him from escaping his vice grip.

In the end, Robert Whittaker was forced to tap out and submit to Khamzat Chimaev. But do you know what ‘The Reaper’ had to endure after the fight? He needed 6 teeth implants and several braces to fix his bloodied and broken mandible. Of course, ‘Borz’ didn’t mean to do so much damage, and felt really bad after he got to know what his strength had done. 

Nevertheless, Chimaev is now getting to fight for the middleweight throne, once Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis settle their business inside the Octagon. Do you think he can continue such performance in the future? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.