{"id":405316,"date":"2024-06-22T21:55:38","date_gmt":"2024-06-22T21:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=405316"},"modified":"2024-06-23T01:06:31","modified_gmt":"2024-06-23T01:06:31","slug":"whittaker-stuns-ufc-rival-with-devastating-knockout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=405316","title":{"rendered":"Whittaker stuns UFC rival with 'devastating' knockout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Whittaker<\/a> has put the UFC<\/a> middleweight division \ufeffon notice, producing a "devastating" first-round victory over Ikram Aliskerov on Sunday morning (AEST).<\/p>\n

After his initial opponent, the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev, pulled out due to illness, the Australian brawler took the fight against a dangerous Aliskerov on short notice.<\/p>\n

Whittaker showed no signs of a lack of preparation however, getting through a brief feeling-out process before landing some lovely shots to stagger the Russian.<\/p>\n

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A misplaced head kick didn't cause Whittaker to panic, backing Aliskerov up against the cage and dropping him with a lethal uppercut before the referee waved it off.<\/p>\n

Former champion Michael Bisping was in awe of Whittaker's knockout on commentary.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"\ufeffUnbelievable … Robert Whittaker does it again and does it in style," he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"At his devastating finest, he is an absolute monster. That was perfect and that was trademark Robert Whittaker right there. \ufeffHe knew he had him hurt.<\/p>\n

"He proved again that he is one of the best we have ever seen. He is one of the best in the world, it's not just words with him."<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old ended a seven-fight\ufeff winning run for his opponent and in the process, moved closer to a championship opportunity in the 185lb division.<\/p>\n

Speaking post-fight, Whittaker said he would be ready to go again at UFC 305 in Perth. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"I'm healthy, I'm hearty, let's go," he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I told you, I told everybody, I am the boogeyman, I am the best in the world and the most dangerous man in this division.<\/p>\n

"I'm the best in the world. I'll take a fight against anyone, anywhere, anytime. \ufeffI've been in this position 100 times, I am the hunter and that's exactly what I did.<\/p>\n

UFC legend Daniel Cormier believes it could make sense for Whittaker to place himself as a back-up to the title clash between Israel Adesanya and Dricus du Plessis<\/a>. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"\ufeffIt's two months until Perth … maybe that dude turns around as a back-up," he said.<\/p>\n

"He said it will be down, maybe now it's a possibility"<\/p>\n

Whittaker has already lost to both Adesanya and du Plessis earlier in his career, but his recent run of performances inside the octagon will certainly put him in the frame for a rematch against either man, depending who walks out with the gold in Australia.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Whittaker champion beat a well-respected Paulo Costa earlier in the year<\/a> and sits near the top of the middleweight rankings as he looks to become a two-time champ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Whittaker has put the UFC middleweight division \ufeffon notice, producing a "devastating" first-round victory over Ikram Aliskerov on Sunday morning (AEST). After his initial […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":405318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405316"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=405316"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":405321,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405316\/revisions\/405321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/405318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=405316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=405316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=405316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}