Robert Whittaker faces this Saturday Ikram Aliskerov in the main event of UFC Fight Night which takes place this Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Originally the rival of Whittaker I would be Khamzat Chimaev but he had to retire due to illness.
Now this afternoon, former title challenger Whittaker was installed as a betting favorite with an odds of -145, while his rival has a +125.
Aliskerov has three first-round wins in the octagon and is coming off a contract with UFC after defeating the Contender Series to Mario Sousa two years ago, although Sousa clearly not a UFC caliber fighter.
He later defeated Phil Hawes in the first round of his debut in UFC, although he was a fighter who had just been knocked out in four of his last five fights. In his most recent fight, Aliskerov knocked out Warlley Alves, who is also 2-6 in his last eight with four of those losses going the distance. Ironically, the toughest opponent he has ever faced Aliskerov was Chimaev in Brave CF in 2019, and Khamzat knocked him out in two minutes.
Now Whittakeris 14-3 over the last decade and his only losses during that span were against former champion Israel Adesanya and current champion Dricus du Plessis.
A confrontation of veterans that looks very even
There is some concern about the amount of punishment he has received Whittaker throughout his career, but he has shown that his chin is still solid, after his last fight when he took a roundhouse kick to the head from Paulo Costa in the first round and, as if nothing had happened, he dismantled him for the rest of the fight.
However, tonight it is expected that Whittaker prevail based on his most technical kickboxing and experience, to take the fight to the distance.
The fight is a great challenge, since due to the changes of rival, both barely had a period of nine days to prepare for each other. Although the advantage, according to experts, would be for Whittakerwho was preparing to face a dangerous knockout like Chimaev.
Besides, Aliskerov will fight in a five-round main event after previously preparing for a three-round fight, although he has never gone longer than 15 minutes and his last three fights have ended inside the first round.
