Robert Whittaker backs Khamzat Chimaev to beat UFC champ Alex Pereira

Robert Whittaker sees Khamzat Chimaev’s grappling being too much for UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.

Whittaker experienced Chimaev’s grappling prowess first hand when he was quickly submitted by the undefeated star in their middleweight matchup this past October at UFC 308.

After Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) teased that his next fight could be a curveball, Whittaker assessed how a hypothetical matchup between Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) and “Poatan” would go at 205 pounds.

“I saw a rumor that Chimaev might go up and fight Pereira,” Whittaker said on his MMArcade Podcast. “Imagine that. Chimeav (will win). Not easily, Chimaev though. Unless the heavyweight strength changes the dynamic. Chimaev will get the takedown and it’s just that he’s good at what he does, he plays into his strengths.”

However, if Chimaev can’t keep up his intense pace throughout, Whittaker thinks Pereira will heavily make him pay on the feet.

“But let’s say hypothetically, Chimaev slows down, gasses a little bit, Pereira won’t,” Whittaker said. “He can strike asleep, dead tired, dude’s been doing it his whole life. He’ll kill Chimaev in a standup.

“It won’t be like that (Kamaru) Usman-Chimaev fight where Usman was kind of outboxing him a little bit at that period when Chimaev got tired. It will be a slaughter. But does it go that far?”

Whittaker (27-8 MMA, 17-6 UFC) had his teeth crushed in his first-round submission loss to Chimaev, requiring him to undergo dental surgery.