Khamzat Chimaev could soon be learning some new moves from the former Middleweight champion.
Following his first-round submission win over Kevin Holland at UFC 279, Chimaev was asked about his thoughts on a potential fight with Whittaker if he were to move up to middleweight.
Chimaev said that he likes Whittaker and would like to train with him rather than compete against him, mostly because the former middleweight champion hasn’t said anything bad about him, and would prefer to fight those Chimaev feels has talked trash about him.
In an interview with RJ Clifford and Din Thomas for Sirius XM, Whittaker said he would gladly train with the undefeated fighter, and that they could possibly change some things in the process
“I heard what Khamzat said about wanting to fight bad guys and I can get behind that,” Whittaker said. “If he wants to train together, I want to train together and we can go hunt bad guys together. I think it will be a lot of fun, and we can run a muck on a lot of people.”
When asked who he would like to see Chimaev face should his next fight be at 185, Whittaker had a couple of names in mind.
“It’s hard, but I think stylistically he handles a lot of the guys in the division,” Whittaker explained. “I would actually love to see Chimaev fight Pereira. I think that’s a great fight for him, and I think it will open the eyes to see what Pereira can do. I’d like to see Chimaev fight Israel, just because, stylistically, there are so many different variables in play that it makes it interesting for me. Plus, I’ll be able to sic my new friend Chimaev on two guys that I want to beat up.”
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