Russian Ikram Aliskerov is receiving tons of praise for stepping in to fight Robert Whittaker at this Saturday’s UFC event in Saudi Arabia. According to the promotion’s CEO, Dana White, Whittaker deserves equal credit for agreeing to the matchup.
“Who wants to fight this guy on such short notice? Only Robert Whittaker,” White said on a June 17 episode of The Jim Roma Show. “We literally offered this guy to everyone in the pision. We were trying to get this guy to fight. Nobody wanted to fight him.
“If you look at the guys that are ranked in the top 15, you have a killer like this guy coming in and you’re worried about him. You want to fight. Let’s say you’re ranked No. 10, and you’re in the middleweight pision, You want to fight, not fight a killer like this who comes and tries to take your number 10 spot. It’s hard to get fights with these types of guys, but a stud, Whittaker has seen it all, done it all and took the fight. at short notice.”
Whittaker, the former UFC middleweight champion, was originally scheduled to face undefeated Russian star Khamzat Chimaev in Saturday’s main event. The fight was being billed as a number one contender fight in the weight class and an extremely difficult challenge for the former champion.
In White’s estimation, Aliskerov is no less risky matchup.
“He has seven first-round finishes, six wins by knockout, five by submission,” he said. “This guy is dangerous. He’s on a seven-game winning streak. His only loss in his career is against Khamzat Chimaev. That makes him very interesting.”
Whittaker was last in action at UFC 298 in February, when he defeated Paulo Costa by decision to bounce back from a surprising loss to Du Plessis.
Meanwhile, Aliskerov did not fight in October, when he knocked out Warlley Alves, who replaced top 15 contender Ikram Aliskerov. He has had two failed fights since then and was pulled from a matchup with Antonio Trocoli to face Whittaker.
Saturday’s event will be the UFC’s first in Saudi Arabia. The card will also feature a heavyweight bout between Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov, and a welterweight clash between Kelvin Gastelum and Daniel Rodriguez.