However, “Borz” made it look easy in the co-main event of UFC 308 when he dominated Whittaker on the ground before blocking a face crumble that forced the first-round tap.

Khamzat Chimaev runs through Robert Whittaker

Chimaev had to fend off a leg kick before charging across the octagon and knocking Whittaker to the floor, where he hopped onto the back of the Australian fan favorite.

For a moment it looked like “The Reaper” was going to get up, but he was put back on the mat and ended up having to tap out from a Chimaev face crank.

The UFC 308 commentary team immediately started talking about Whittaker making a jaw complaint.

It appeared he may have dislocated or broken his jaw in his eighth pro MMA loss.

During his post-fight interview, Chimaev called for a shot at middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis.

The South African slugger is expected to face Sean Strickland again in early 2025, but Chimaev may have just joined the queue after acing his toughest test yet.

“I’m going for the belt,” Chimaev said. “Thank you, Robert, I love you, my brother. You are a legend.

“Nobody wants to fight me. All champions are running away from me. Give me the belt!”

Chimaev went on to discuss the potentially very serious injury he inflicted on Whittaker.

He added: “I feel like his jaw was almost broken.”

Khamzat Chimaev overcame depression before UFC 308

It has been over a year since Khamzat Chimaev entered the UFC Octagon when he took on Kamaru Usman on short notice at UFC 294.

Although Chimaev claimed the biggest win of his career to date, his momentum was once again stymied as he continued to suffer from health complications that delayed his next outing.

Ahead of UFC 308, Chimaev spoke about overcoming depression caused by setbacks in his career.

“Well, you could say my depression is gone. There were a lot of problems before, I solved a lot of things. Thank God everything is fine now. I'm human too, I also have my own problems. They had to be solved,” Chimaev told Adam Zubayraev.

“I went into depression and there was a lot going on. Well, thank God I decided everything. I moved to another team, everything is great. Doctors, pharmacologists, nutritionists, everyone. I've never had a team like this before.

“In the past, I usually took vitamins incorrectly. I just trained and fought in the gym. Everyone thought I woke up and fought.”

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