The UFC 2024 ‘Submission of the Year’ ultimately went to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev for his fourth-round finish of Dustin Poirier – but only just.
Out of all the outstanding submissions that we witnessed in 2024, none were more brutal than Khamzat Chimaev’s bone-crushing victory over ‘The Reaper’ at UFC 308.
Three months after that particularly painful loss, Robert Whittaker has now opened up on what shocked him the most about his fight with ‘Borz’ – and surprisingly, it’s not the submission itself.
Robert Whittaker reveals what surprised him the most vs. Khamzat Chimaev
Not only is Robert ‘The Reaper’ Whittaker one of the best middleweights on the planet, but he’s also one of the best analysts out there with the skills to break down all aspects of his fights; good or bad.
Speaking with Ariel Helwani, the popular Australian revealed the single most surprising aspect of Khamzat Chimaev’s game, which the former champion believes to be his dexterity in securing takedowns.
“It was the takedown, like the wall-wrestling and everything else was just part of the parcel, you know, I got caught with that face-crank, but that’s just part of grappling and the wall-grappling transition.
“But he was sticky… He was really, really good at gut-wrenching, the drag-downs and just holding that position. We knew this, we trained for this, and I got rag-dolled for most of the camp, so I was comfortable there.”
Whilst Khamzat Chimaev is undoubtedly the best wrestler in the middleweight division, Whittaker is no slouch himself; admitting that he thought he’d get more time to escape the face-crank, which was locked up with less than 90 seconds left in the round.
“Getting caught with the face-crack, didn’t expect that – thought I’d have more time, did not. But it was the initial takedown that surprised me the most because the guy shot from like two meters away and was honestly, a foot off the ground.
Robert Whittaker blasts Daniel Cormier for leaking injury photo
As soon as that fight ended, fans began speculating on why ‘The Reaper’ tapped so quickly; with Daniel Cormier sharing a picture of Whittaker’s broken jaw on the official UFC 308 broadcast.
That decision has been condemned by Whittaker, admitting that he was “super annoyed” by Cormier sharing the image with the entire MMA world.
“I was super annoyed because it was such a scummy thing to do. The doctor took a photo of my mouth, and said, ‘I’m just gonna go and show Dana [White] so that he knows what’s up.’
“I was like, ‘Cool, do that.’ And then DC took a photo of the other guy’s phone to post all over socials, it’s like… Is that not scummy?”
Whittaker has spent the last few months recovering from that grizzly injury and has recently found himself training alongside Israel Adesanya ahead of Stylebender’s fight in February.
The Australian revealed in conversation with his former rival that he’s “probably not going to jump back into it until June.”