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UFC Hal of Famer Georges St-Pierre believes Robert Whittaker has the style to stop Khamzat Chimaev.
Former middleweight champion Whittaker (25-7 MMA, 16-5 UFC) takes on unbeaten Chimaev (13-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) in a five-round UFC main event June 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which airs on ABC.
St-Pierre points to Whittaker’s two wins over Olympic wrestler Yoel Romero as an indicator that he has the ability to deny a strong grappler such Chimaev from taking him down.
“Well, if there is a guy that can stop Chimaev, it’s Robert Whittaker,” St-Pierre told Fox Sports Australia. “Because if you look at Chimaev, he has a – we can compare it in a way to Yoel Romero. Romero was a very good wrestler, very explosive and powerful guy, and Whittaker was the kryptonite of Yoel Romero. He was able to beat him twice. So, stylistically he’s very capable of doing the same to Chimaev, to make Chimaev look bad. Robert Whittaker has a very unusual style. He’s from a karate background like I do.
“Karate background, we have very different style. We use different timings to blitz in, and the way we control the distance, it seems very unusual for our opponents because most of the guys in (the) mixed martial arts world are from kickboxing and muay Thai backgrounds. So, when you’re from karate, I think that’s one of the things that sort of gives you an edge, and Robert Whittaker utilizes all his karate skills very, very well. His footwork and control of distance, he’s a master at it.”
However, St-Pierre warns Whittaker that it won’t be an easy task. Chimaev holds recent wins over former title challenger Gilbert Burns, and former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
“He’s going to have to be on his A-game because Chimaev is no joke, and he seems unstoppable right now,” St-Pierre concluded.
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