Nobody expected the end to the fight between Robert Whittaker and Ikram Aliskerov, who replaced Khamzat Chimaev at UFC Saudi Arabia. ‘The Reaper’ earned an astonishing first-round KO, which impressed Dana White so much that he made a momentous offer to the Aussie star. Yet, when Whittaker was welcomed to dawn the role of the backup fighter for the Israel Adesanya vs. Dricus du Plessis fight at UFC 305, the former champion declined.

In a recent interview, Robert Whittaker came clean about his decision to drop the backup fighter offer solely because his mind is set on getting back into the title contention and becoming a 2-time champion. That, according to the Aussie star, can only happen if he fights Khamzat Chimaev. “I’m in the business of bettering myself. I think that fight will make me better [and] I think it’ll put me in a good position, like, skill set wise, career-wise [and] headspace wise to fight for that belt and to take that belt back,” Whittaker told ‘Main Event’.

However, that wasn’t the only reason, as Robert Whittaker didn’t want to pass on the opportunity to fight in the Middle East, which is something that he’s grown to love. “The timeline’s worked out and, you know, I like fighting in the Middle East as well,” ‘Bobby Knuckles’ added. But given how the initial matchup between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev blew up, it rendered the UFC brass to doubt how reliable Khamzat Chimaev really is. While Chimaev pulled out due to his ailment, it turned out to be a big advantage for Robert Whittaker.

Robert Whittaker had two camps for Khamzat Chimaev

‘The reaper’ is brimming with confidence ahead of his fight against Khamzat Chimaev, and why won’t he be? He knocked out his last opponent in the first round, after all. However, that’s not really why Robert Whittaker’s confidence is sky-high. Before Ikram Aliskerov was announced as the replacement, the Aussie star had been putting in the work of fighting Chimaev. Now, getting to train in another camp for the fight against ‘Borz’, according to Whittaker, has been beneficial to him.

“This [Khamzat’s injury] has worked in my favor because, now, I’ve essentially had two camps for this guy, right? I think skill-set wise, I’m probably the best I’ve been, especially most prepared for Khamzat, theoretically speaking, as I could be right,” Robert Whittaker stated on the ‘Submission Radio’ podcast a week ago. Now, it remains to be seen if these two camps were sufficient for ‘Bobby Knuckles’ to topple the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev.

Do you think Robert Whittaker made the right choice by turning down the backup role at UFC 305? Drop your comments below.