Khamzat Chimaev will fight for the status of a contender for the world title with Robert Whittaker

Khamzat Chimaev, one of the biggest stars in mixed martial arts (MMA), will headline the UFC’s first-ever event in Saudi Arabia in June. As part of it, a native of Chechnya, Chimaev, will fight for the status of a contender for the championship title in the middleweight (up to 84 kg) with the experienced Australian Robert Whittaker. The second most important fight of the tournament is also of great interest to the Russian public. Two popular domestic heavyweights will meet in it – Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov, who until recently were close to this title.

The president of the UFC, the main promotion in mixed martial arts, Dana White announced the composition of the tournament, which the structure will hold on June 22. This is a very remarkable event. The tournament White spoke about will take place in Saudi Arabia. This country has recently been extremely active in the sports market, primarily in organizing top competitions. For example, it has already hosted a number of high-profile and expensive boxing shows. But the Saudis have not yet cooperated with the UFC. So in a sense, the June project will be a breakthrough for promotion.

And its headliner turned out to be a fighter who is directly related to Russia. Khamzat Chimaev was born in Chechnya, moved to Sweden in his youth, and left it some time ago, and now it is customary to call him in official reports a representative of the UAE, the country in which he lives. But Chimaev visits his homeland often and seems to have no objection at all to being positioned as a Russian athlete.

Several years ago, his flamboyant style has transformed him into an undisputed MMA superstar for whom a championship fight is only a matter of time. In theory, it could take place this spring. In October, Chimaev won the 13th consecutive victory in his professional career, which still has no misfires. Its value was slightly undermined by the fact that his famous opponent, Kamaru Usman, who showed stubborn resistance to his opponent, had minimal time to prepare for the match due to the fact that he urgently replaced Paulo Costa, who was injured two weeks before the performance. But in any case, no one was surprised that Khamzat Chimaev soon challenged the new UFC middleweight champion, South African Dricus du Plessis, who took the title from Sean Strickland in January. Chimaev expected to be able to cross paths with du Plessis as early as April. However, the South African said that due to leg injuries suffered in the fight with Strickland, he apparently will not enter the Octagon in the first half of the year.

The UFC eventually arranged a qualifying fight among the two, according to its version, the most worthy potential competitors of Dricus du Plessis. And Khamzat Chimaev had to face a very seasoned 33-year-old (he is four years older than Chimaev) fighter.

There were many interesting episodes in the career of Robert Whittaker, and once he even had the chance to reach the middleweight championship title, albeit partly due to circumstances in the form of health problems with its outstanding owner Georges St-Pierre. Thus, Whittaker’s temporary title, which he won after winning against Yoel Romero in 2017, was transformed into a full one.

He owned it, though not for long. In 2019, Whittaker was knocked out by another top middleweight, Israel Adesanya. In the rematch, the Australian also lost to him, and later suffered a knockout from du Plessis. But these failures in his track record are adjacent to victories against such notable characters as Kelvin Gastelum, Marvin Vettori, Paulo Costa, the key to which was, first of all, the good wrestling skills of the Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist Whittaker.

The second most important fight of the tournament is of no less interest to Russia. He brought together two domestic heavyweights – Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov, each of whom until recently seemed to be very close to the champion title. Both of them were prevented from taking it by disruptions on the approaches to the rank. Pavlovich’s breakdown was especially offensive. Having acquired a reputation as a phenomenal knockout artist, in November he fought with Briton Tom Aspinall in a duel for the interim title, but he himself was knocked out just a minute after it began.

Sergei Pavlovich will have to correct his image in a fight with his compatriot, who, apparently, has regained his tone. In three previous fights, Alexander Volkov won early victories over classy opponents – Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Alexander Romanov and Tai Tuivasa. Moreover, he destroyed them in a variety of ways – both with the help of striking techniques and wrestling techniques.

Alexey Dospehov