Michael Bisping doesn’t like Khamzat Chimaev’s chances against Robert Whittaker if they reach the championship rounds.
Chimaev (13-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) faces former middleweight champ Whittaker (25-7 MMA, 16-5 UFC) in a five-round headliner June 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which airs on ABC.
With Whittaker being the first five-round fight of Chimaev’s career, Bisping believes that could spell disaster for the undefeated fighter.
“Automatically, if you’re in the corner of Khamzat Chimaev, you’ve got to be concerned,” Bisping said on his “Believe You Me” podcast. “One thing Robert Whittaker is not going to do is run out of gas. He’s a very, very experienced fighter fighting at the highest level for a long time. Without getting into the Xs and Os, the obvious thing is Khamzat always gasses.
“He’s a tremendous force of nature, the way he takes people down and dominates them right from the opening bell. He did the same thing against Kamaru Usman. Granted, didn’t get the finish, but he definitely did slow down. Against Gilbert Burns, same thing. He had a great Round 1. (Rounds) 2 and 3 were kind of close. Five rounds against somebody like Robert Whittaker, if he can’t finish him early, that could be a disastrous night for him in Saudi Arabia.”
Whittaker has gone the full 25 minutes on six different occasions, emerging victorious in four of them – including back-to-back wins over Yoel Romero.
