Video: Robert Whittaker knocks Ikram Aliskerov out early in UFC Saudi Arabia main event
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us today, June 22, 2024, for UFC Saudi Arabia / UFC on ABC 6, going down live from the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Headlining the event is a 185 lb clash between no. 3 ranked former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (26-7) and Ikram Aliskerov (15-2).
Whittaker was originally slated to face no. 11 ranked Khamzat Chimaev in this evening’s main event, though Chimaev was forced from the bout with an illness and replaced by one of his former foes in Aliskerov.
Following his loss of the title to Israel Adesanya (KO) in 2019 Whittaker had gone 5-2 over his last seven; including a three-fight win streak in 2020 and 2021 with victories over Darren Till (UD), Jared Cannonier (UD), and Kelvin Gastelum (UD).
The Aussie then lost his rematch to Adesanya (UD), a fight many saw him winning, before defeating Marvin Vettori (UD), losing to future, now current UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis (TKO), and winning his most recent appearance against Paulo Costa (UD), marking his fifth win over a former title challenger in just as many years.
Aliskerov on the other hand came in on a seven-fight win streak following defeat to Chimaev (KO) in 2019. He was just 2-0 in the UFC coming in, picking up first round stoppages over Phil Hawes (KO) and Warlley Alves (TKO) in both encounters. Aliskerov also boasted three kimura submissions in his recent win streak.
Continue reading to see how our UFC Saudi Arabia main card opener went down:
Official Result: Robert Whittaker def. Ikram Aliskerov via KO (punches) at 1:49 of round one
Whittaker lunged in and landed a heavy overhand right that had Aliskerov badly hurt about 90 seconds in, backing him up to the fence with a pair of jabs and following it up with a right uppercut in close that floored him. He followed it up with a trio of left hands to the downed Aliskerov and that’s all it took, the fight was over in under two minutes.
ROBERT WHITTAKER KO’S ALISKEROV pic.twitter.com/VKGG97nEyv
— OOC MMA (@oocmma) June 22, 2024
Whittaker has had a couple hiccups over the last couple years, but he proved again tonight at 33 years of age he’s still one of the very best middleweights on the planet. This was only his second unranked opponent since debuting at 185 lbs in 2014 and it showed.
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