Robert Whittaker reveals it took months to fully heal from gruesome Khamzat Chimaev injury

Chris Unger via Getty Images

Robert Whittaker quite literally had his face rearranged in his most recent Octagon appearance.

The former UFC middleweight champion suffered a horrific first-round submission loss to Khamzat Chimaev this past October, a defeat which resulted in a broken jaw for Whittaker and shattered three of his bottom teeth from Chimaev's squeeze. "Bobby Knuckles" is now fully recovered and on the rebound, but before he competes in this weekend's UFC Abu Dhabi main event against Reinier de Ridder, Whittaker revealed it took several months to fully heal from the gruesome scene.

"Perfect, mate. Better than before," Whittaker said of his teeth and jaw on Monday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show." "I just got them taken out, the teeth. I got implants put in, and it took them a little while to set and settle. Now that that's all done, I've had plenty of time. Like I said, better than ever."

Whittaker vs. Chimaev was essentially an unofficial title eliminator that led to the latter's championship bout against UFC middleweight king Dricus du Plessis on Aug. 16 at UFC 319. 

Whittaker also previously fought du Plessis in July 2023, infamously losing in an upset that, at least in the moment, was considered fairly surprising. When assessing the matchup between his two former opponents, Whittaker believes the paths to victory are clear for each.

"Chimaev is going to get him to the ground," Whittaker said. "If he doesn't finish him there, I don't think he wins. That's just how I feel. If you can't get Dricus out in the first, which Chimaev can do — first-round finishes is his thing, right? — but if he doesn't get him out of there, I think Dricus looks good, very promising. He's a guy that if you don't get rid of, he kind of wins."

At age 34, Whittaker remains a top contender at 185 pounds and can reestablish himself in the hunt by turning back another surging contender with the aforementioned de Ridder fight. 

That being said, Whittaker knows his clock is ticking to make one final title run — which in Whittaker's mind, would be the ideal capstone on the Aussie legend's potentially Hall of Fame career.

"Realistically, I only want to fight for a couple more years. There's other things I want to do still. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I understand it is my last big push, the last sprint, last one hundred meters of the race. Let's get in there, get a few more fights in. I can see the path to the gold, and the dream is that fairytale ending. Everything goes into this.

"Sailing off into the sunset as the champ [would be perfect]."

Whittaker has been a mainstay of the middleweight division since 2014 and has been nearly flawless throughout that run. His only losses came against championship-caliber competition: Du Plessis, Chimaev and Israel Adesanya. Depending on how many wins it might take to get Whittaker back to a title fight, he could realistically be staring at a rematch with either man in UFC 319's championship bout.

While the Chimaev loss may have been the worst of his recent two setbacks, especially optically, his second-round stoppage loss to du Plessis is still the one haunting Whittaker most. If he had it his way, closing out his run in MMA with redemption against the South African would be a dream come true.

"Honestly, I think Dricus is the sort of guy that will lose to himself," Whittaker said. "The way he fights. I think it's obvious with every fight, it's very heavily mindset driven. Especially for him. He's tough as nails and he never quits. He beats a lot of people on the backs of him not going anywhere. I think the day that he can't push, the day that he can't find that, is the day that he might lose. He's got a head of steel, he's a tough guy, he's strong, he's physically fit, he puts in the work.

"I'd like to fight him again. That would be the icing on the cake. ... Honestly, I do think I'm better than him. I think I'm better than everybody, even when I lose, right? It's mainly that in our first pairing, I let myself down in that fight, and I want to correct that. I didn't have the right headspace to go and beat him.

"I want to correct that more than any of my other losses. That's the fight I didn't like feeling like that."