UFC CEO Dana White recently announced several matchups for the October UFC 308 event that takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The fight card is headlined by featherweight tile bout between champion Ilia Topuria and former titleholder and ‘BMF’ belt holder Max Holloway.
The main card featured a middleweight bout between former champion Robert Whittaker and undefeated Khamzat Chimaev. The two were scheduled to meet at UFC on ABC 6 on June 22 but Chimaev was forced out of the bout due to illness. Whittaker instead faced Ikram Aliskerov and won by knockout in less than two minutes.
Whittaker revealed that he contacted the fight promotion requesting a fight with Chimaev be rebooked. He also explained why he wanted to fight “Borz.”
“I saw that there was an Abu Dhabi card in October, timeline fits perfectly, and I was like, ‘I’ll fight Chimaev again,’” Whittaker told the MMArcade podcast. “Let’s do it again. Just make sure he turns up (laughs). I look forward to hard fights, I look forward to these fights, and I know that if I beat Chimaev there is nothing in my way to getting my belt back.”
“Chimaev is a hard fight. He’s obviously a big draw, especially over there in Abu Dhabi. He’s done the welterweight thing. He’s done the middleweight thing,” Whittaker continued.
“So, he’s a draw, and I think the UFC, story-wise, wants to see Chimaev get a shot at the champion. They want to see Chimaev up the top of the ladder. They want to see him in that picture. But I love disrupting their plans. I love derailing their stories, and that’s why I took the fight. I asked for the fight. It wasn’t offered to me.”
