Robert Whittaker to face Ikram Aliskerov after Khamzat Chimaev withdraws due to illness
Next weekend’s main event in Saudi Arabia has undergone a massive change. UFC CEO Dana White announced on Thursday that due to Khamazat Chimaev falling “violently ill” this week, Ikram Aliskerov will take his place in the main event against the former UFC middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker.
Earlier this year, Whittaker defeated Paulo Costa at UFC 298 as he tried to climb his way back into the middleweight title fight and while it may had not been the number one contender fight, Chimaev presented a major opportunity for the former champion. Instead, Aliskerov will come into the main event spotlight riding a seven-fight winning streak.
Since entering the UFC following his win on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022 by first-round submission, Aliskerov has picked up two consecutive first-round finishes, having spent less than five total minutes in his first two appearance with the promotion. In 2023, he had previously been scheduled to face top middleweight contenders in Paulo Costa and and Nassourdine Imavov, but both of those respective fights fell through as well.
This will be the first fight of 2024 for Ikram Aliskerov, and if he’s able to step up on short notice and upset Robert Whittaker, he will make a huge jump into the rankings and disrupt the middleweight title picture. There is currently no announced plan for the middleweight title but it is expected that champion Dricus Du Plessis will face off against former champion Israel Adesanya at some point later this year.
After the change in next week’s main event, here is the entire fight card for UFC Fight Night Saudi Arabia which takes place on June 22, starting at 12pm ET, and will be broadcasted on ESPN+ and ABC television.
- Robert Whittaker vs Ikram Aliskerov
- Sergei Pavlovich vs Alexander Volkov
- Johnny Walker vs Volkan Oezdemir
- Kelvin Gastelum vs Daniel Rodriguez
- Muhammad Naimov vs Melsik Baghdasaryan
- Shara Magomedov vs Joilton Lutterbach
- Nasrat Haqparast vs Jared Gordon
- Muin Gafurov vs Kyung Ho Kang
- Rinat Fakhretdinov vs Nicolas Dalby
- Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs Brendson Ribeiro
- Long Xiao vs Chang Ho Lee
- Sedriques Dumas vs Denis Tiuliulin
