The UFC will be hosting it’s first Fight Night in Saudi Arabia in June and there will be an absolute banger in the main event. Dana White took to social media last night and announced that the main event will be a title eliminator in the middleweight division. Former champion Robert Whittaker (25-7) will take on the unbeaten Khamzat Chimaev (13-0).
The promotion was supposed to make it’s debut in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, but the plans were scrapped and they pushed the card back to June. Much was said behind the scenes about how the UFC wanted to bring a better card to The Kingdom. This is a banger of a card with a huge headliner.
Khamzat Chimaev officially moved to the middleweight division after struggling to make the welterweight limit of 170 pounds. Chimaev was supposed to face Paulo Costa at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi but Costa pulled out of the fight with an injury. Former welterweight champ Kamaru Usman moved up to face him and Chimaev won by decision. That said, this will be by far the toughest test of his career.
UFC Saudi Arabia
Speaking of Paulo Costa, he just fought last month at UFC 298 against Bobby Knuckles. Whittaker picked up the decision which was a nice bounce back win for him. Prior to that, Whittaker had been stopped by current champion Dricus Du Plessis back in July.
Since moving up to the middleweight division, Whittaker has been one of the best in the world. He’s 13-3 at 185 with his only losses coming against DDP and Israel Adesanya who defeated him twice. Other than that, Whittaker has defeated everyone he’s faced. He’s not going to be intimidated and you know that he wants another shot at UFC middleweight gold.