Khamzat Chimaev’s Setback Will Force Dana White to Hand Robert Whittaker a Title Shot, Claims Former UFC Champ – “There’s No Other Way Around It”

After almost a year, the fight between Khamzat Chimaev and Robert Whittaker was confirmed. The two will collide in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on June 23. The anticipation has been brewing following the Chechen athlete’s callout for a “good guy vs bad guy” fight. Now with the fight slightly over a month away the question that remains is would a win land any one of them in the title picture? ‘The Reaper’ has answered that question.

In a recent interview, Whittaker revealed how he was surprised by Dana White with the offer for the fight against Chimaev and where he would stand in the bigger picture in case he won.

“I’ve beaten everybody else,” Robert Whittaker on why he deserves a title shot if he overcomes Khamzat Chimaev

Chimaev last fought in October 2023 and secured an impressive win over Kamaru Usman via majority decision at UFC 294. This win kept Chimaev unbeaten in UFC and made it 13 wins without defeat in his MMA career. On the other hand, Whittaker came out on top earlier this year in February against Paulo Costo at UFC 298 via unanimous decision. So the bout in Riyadh will carry high stakes.

On the recent episode of ‘The Megan Anderson Show’, Anderson and Phil Murphy interviewed ‘The Reaper’. During the conversation, Murphy asked the fighter whether he would enter the title picture, if he manages to defeat the Chechen mixed martial artist. Whittaker replied, “Certainly, beating Chimaev opens me up to a title shot. There’s no other way around it. I’ve beaten everybody else.” 

Whittaker went to on add why he deserves the title shot, “to beat you know the boogeyman of the division, the guy everyone doesn’t want a bar of, just makes me look real good.” Whittaker, who is currently at the third spot in the divisional rankings, strongly believes a win over Chimaev should set him up for a title match against Dricus du Plessis, who won the middleweight title at UFC 297 against Sean Strickland on a split decision.

Chimaev previously called out Whittaker along with Colby Covington. In February he took to social media and asked Whittaker to make the “Good guy vs Bad guy” fight happen. This was despite him not being interested in fighting Whittaker earlier saying that he actually liked the veteran middleweight fighter.

Whittaker responded to Chimaev’s challenge on Submission Radio and said, “Oh yeah, cool – let’s do it. Whatever. If it’s a fight that gets presented to me, then it is what it is. Yeah, I think it’d be a good fight.” But following this the former middleweight champ claimed that he was not provided with any written contract with a fight against Chimaev in it. So how exactly did the fight materialize?

Murphy asked the same question to Whittaker and he said it was set up via a text message. ‘The Reaper’ said, “Honestly, I was, I was kind of just doing my thing. You know, sitting with the family and I got a message. Got a text message. ‘Hey, thinking about fighting, what do you think about fighting Chimaev in June 22nd, Saudi Arabia?’ [Laughs] You know, my calendar was free. So, I was like ‘yeah, why not!’”

Meanwhile, even if Whittaker beats Chimaev, he might not be guaranteed a title shot former champion Sean Strickland is also in line to take on Du Plessis to avenge his narrow loss.

‘The Reaper’ can face competition from Sean Strickland for a title shot

This wasn’t the first time Whittaker talked about the outcome of his fight against the Chechen Wolf. The Australian, speaking on ‘Submission Radio’, claimed that defeating Chimaev should get him a shot at the championship title. He said, “They want him to fight me at the top of the chain, so that it opens the door to whoever wins, and then jump behind. That’s the only reason it makes sense.”

Although White previously declared that the winner of the fight would get to fight for the #1 spot in the middleweight rankings, ‘The Reaper’ wanted to jump straight to the title shot.

But the Australian fighter didn’t stop there. He had also focused the spotlight on Sean Strickland. “I don’t think Sean [Strickland] will be rewarded by sitting on the sidelines. I don’t think… the UFC don’t really like playing [that way],” the Australian previously said. Nevertheless, with Whittaker fighting against ‘Borz’ on June 22nd, a title shot for either doesn’t seem that far away.

However, there is a speed bump on the way. The UFC has scheduled Strickland vs. Paulo Costa for UFC 302 in New Jersey on June 2. If Strickland wins, he could make a bigger case for the title shot. He is currently #1 in the divisional rankings and lost his title in a razor-close decision in January against Dricus Du Plessis. But if the #7 ranked Costa wins, it would be safe to assume the winner of Chimaev vs. Whittaker will get the next shot at the title.

What do you think of Whittaker’s claims? Do you think he would get a title shot after defeating Chimaev? Let us know in the comments below.