Israel Adesanya will be paying close attention to the UFC 308 co-main event between fellow middleweights Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev.
Whittaker and Chimaev will battle for a scheduled five rounds this Saturday in Abu Dhabi. Having faced Whittaker twice, Adesanya is quite familiar with what “The Reaper” brings to the table. But Chimaev’s wrestling is a big point of contention for the former champion, especially early.
“I don’t think Rob’s going to run through Khamzat,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “Finally, we get to see [Chimaev] fight a legit middleweight, one of the top middleweights, one of the greatest middleweights of all time.
“I think Khamzat’s going to attack him with the wrestling so Rob’s going to have to scramble for his life initially, weather the storm, and I think it’s going to be a wrestling-based attack. I think he’s going to try and submit Rob. I don’t think he’s going to stand with Rob. Yeah, [Chimaev has a chance striking], but I don’t think it’s a great chance on the feet with Rob because Rob will just snipe him. Rob will just move in and out, in and out, and then blitz.
“I think while Rob is blitzing, Khamzat will take him down. ... I think Khamzat, if he’s going to win, he’s going to have to do it in the first or second round and catch Rob early with a submission. I don’t see him dropping Rob. He’s got good standup, also, he’s tough on the feet like the fight with Gilbert Burns and Kamaru [Usman]. You can tell, he’s down to throw.”
With Dana White saying Sean Strickland is likely next for 185-pound champ Dricus du Plessis, the stakes are still extremely high for both Whittaker and Chimaev, with the winner likely in the on-deck circle for a chance to capture the middleweight crown.
Regardless of who comes out victorious, Adesanya is confident the judges will not be needed. In the end, it comes down to if Whittaker can get the fight extended towards the championship rounds — which “The Last Stylebender” predicts will happen.
“Rob, just weather the storm in rounds one and two, and then three, four, five, that’s all Rob,” Adesanya said. “But again, Rob has fought a guy like Romero, twice. Romero was hitting him with these f*cking crazy takedowns, trying to get him, and Rob was like, ‘Nah, I’m standing up.’ So Rob knows his shit on the ground.
“How long will he be able to keep Khamzat off of him, and will he be able to stop Khamzat’s onslaught of takedowns and grappling exchanges in the first two rounds? I’d say, early on, Khamzat will submit him if he’s going to win, and then later on, Rob will just TKO him in round three, four, or five. I don’t know which round, but one of them.
“But which one do I want to go with? I think Rob is just a guy not to be f*cked with. I mean, look at his last fight so hopefully people remember who he is now. So I think Rob will do it again — maybe not as early, definitely not as early. ... I think he’ll catch him later on, but he’s got to weather the storm. He has to survive until he can’t. I’m going to go Rob on this one with a late finish.”
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