UFC on ABC 6 Preview

The UFC is invading the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, June 22 for UFC on ABC 6. The main event will be in the middleweight division between former champion #3 Robert Whittaker and rising prospect Ikram Aliskerov.

Whittaker was originally scheduled to face heavily hyped contender Khamzat Chimaev, but Chimaev withdrew from the fight due to illness. The winner of the fight was expected to be on the short list to challenge for the middleweight title, but what can be expected now? Does a win over an unranked opponent gain Whittaker a title shot or does it merely win the respect of the fans?

After rebounding well in his last fight against Paulo Costa, Whittaker reminded the middleweight division that he is still a threat to win back the title he once held. Whittaker won the title in 2017 with an impressive win over Yoel Romero, but he technically never defended the title after Romero missed weight in their rematch, making it a non-title fight. Whittaker won a disputed split decision in the non-title fight.  He would then go on to lose the belt to Israel Adesanya in 2019.

Whittaker discussed not fighting Chimaev and preparing Aliskerov. “It was a stressful couple of hours while we were trying to find a new opponent, but once we got that locked in, it’s much the same,” Whittaker said.

“It’s another fight week, he brings the same level of threat as anybody else that I’ve had to fight. Let’s see what happens.”

The New Zealander continued, “As soon as I found out my opponent, I watched some fights to get an idea of what he’s going to bring to the table. In a lot of respects, he’s more dangerous than Chimaev, especially mentally wise because he has nothing to lose and everything to gain really. It’s a dangerous fight.

“He’s a strong, tough guy and he was ready to fight last week, so I expect nothing but a test, a war, a slugfest.”

Will Whittaker call for another scheduled fight with Chimaev? “I don’t really have a wish list of fights. They just happen. I just wish him all the best with his health.

“What we do is a job, a career, a sport. Outside of the octagon we’re just people and I wish him only the best.”

Whittaker discussed where he is at in his career in relation to another title shot. “You know what, I’m really enjoying my career thus far,” Whittaker said.

“It’s an exciting time to be a middleweight. I feel like I’m making a lot of ground and I’m really starting to hit my best strides now. Every day is a treat.”

While Chimaev is considered the most dangerous fighter in the middleweight division, Whittaker knows he will not have an easy fight on Saturday. “He wants to take my head off no less than Chimaev did,” Whittaker said.

“I train to beat everyone. Chimaev, Ikram, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to get in there and put on my best fight. I’m going to leave it all there.

“I’m going to go in there and hunt Ikram for 25 minutes, got to war, put on a slugfest and try and take his head off, then go home and spend time with my family. That’s all that matters for me.

“I having geared up ready to go make it an absolute slugfest, a war of a fight for 25 minutes.

“I know that with the approach of being the hunter in this fight, it’s not going to last that long. I’m going to hurt him and I’m going to hurt him until he can’t take anymore.”

With a win Whittaker will cement his place in the top three of the division for now. Ahead of him in the line is a fight between champion Dricus du Plessis and former champion Adesanya. Former champ Sean Strickland is coming off a win and expected to be in line ahead of Whittaker as well.

Aside from Costa and Romero, Whittaker has key wins in his career over Marvin Vettori, Kelvin Gastelum, Jared Connonier, Darren Till, Ronaldo Souza, Derek Brunson, Uriah Hall and Brad Tavares.

Aliskerov is 2-0 in the UFC and is coming off an impressive first round TKO victory over Warlley Alves at UFC 294. He will be facing the toughest test of his career on Saturday but could send a shockwave through the middleweight division with a win.

The Dagestani fighter commented on accepting this fight on short notice. "This is what we do,We’re fighters. This is our sport. This is our life. I even put it on my Instagram, ‘Anyone, anywhere, at any time.’ It’s the type of motto I live by and you have to live by it if you want to fight on the top level. I was ready for this. I don’t care if it was five rounds or 10 rounds, you have to be ready for anything being thrown your way and that’s what I live by,” Aliskerov said.

He believes he was meant to have this fight. "The way I was speaking to Ali, my manager, is the way it sounded is the UFC kind of expected me to have this fight. They think I’m ready, that I’m that level of an opponent that I should be accepting this fight. I think that’s great. It makes me think that the UFC values me. They know what I’m worth. They know what I’m capable of, so I think it’s right that I’m a tougher matchup.”

The 31-year-old commented on Whittaker’s claim that he did not know who he was until saying yes to the fight. “I think he was lying,” Aliskerov said. “I’m sure he rewatched my fight with Khamzat a million times because he was preparing for him. I think [he’ll remember my name]. He’ll have to fight me for five rounds. After I took the fight, I called Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. He said, ‘You can’t miss these chances. You have to fly here, sweat for two-three days.’ We discussed [the fight], but I won’t get into it.”

While he accepted the fight on short notice, Aliskerov was already in camp expecting to fight Atonio Trocolio on June 15. Despite the step up in competition, physically speaking Aliskerov should not be impacted by saying yes to a big fight on short notice. A convincing win could catapult Aliskerov into the top 10 and put him in position to be fighting in a title eliminator.

The rest of the main card:

Heavyweight - #3 Sergei Pavlovich vs. #5 Alexander Volkov

Middleweight - Kelvin Gastelum vs. Daniel Rodriguez

Middleweight - Sharabutdin Magomedov vs. Antonio Trocoli

Light Heavyweight - #7 Johnny Walker vs. #9 Volkan Oezdemir

ESPN + Prelims:

Lightweight - Nasrat Haqparast vs. Jared Gordon

Featherweight - Muhammad Naimov vs. Felipe Lima

Welterweight - Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Nicolas Dalby

Bantamweight - Kang Kyung-ho vs. Muin Gafurov

Light Heavyweight - Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs. Brendson Ribeiro

Bantamweight - Xiao Long vs. Lee Chang-ho