“I haven’t been able to bite down on an apple since I was like 19.”
That’s what Robert Whittaker said about the state of his bottom teeth prior to his loss at UFC 308 in October, which saw Khamzat Chimaev lock in a tight submission hold that literally rearranged the inside of Whittaker’s mouth.
The former middleweight champion updated his status Tuesday on the MMArcade Podcast, explaining that he returned to training this week and had had several teeth removed due to the injury sustained in that loss to Chimaev.
Like he did following UFC 308, Whittaker made sure to preface his comments by giving Chimaev credit just in case it wasn’t clear he wasn’t making excuses for the first-round loss.
“Looking at that fight, I felt amazing,” Whittaker said. “The (weight) cut was amazing, I felt strong, I felt fit, I was focused, I was locked in. Everything was picture-perfect. I can’t say otherwise.”
Whittaker said that within seconds of the fight starting he felt “real comfortable” standing with Chimaev. He had, like always, trained his wrestling defence during preparations for the bout but it was not enough to overcome Chime’s dominant grappling-heavy style.
“It’s so hard to replicate that sort of takedown, that commitment,” Whittaker said of the early successful takedown Chimaev landed. “And you know props to him. The guy knows his strengths, plays into them to a tee. … He was really good at making me work (along the fence), like making sure he was active. He was always kind of reaching for underhooks, reaching for ankle picks, trying to get a hook in.”
Eventually, Chimaev did wrap up a rear-naked choke that had a crushing effect.
Whittaker explained Chimaev placed his forearm in the perfect spot between Whittaker’s chin and bottom lip. The popular Australian said his teeth “gave out” instantly and the subsequent squeezing from Chimaev didn’t help, and it forced a vigorous tap-out.
“I couldn’t fight out of it. I could feel my teeth in the middle of my mouth,” Whittaker said before adding that his jaw itself was ultimately uninjured.
Daniel Cormier briefly shared a graphic image of the inside of Whittaker’s mouth at the end of the UFC 308 pay-per-view broadcast that later made the rounds on social media.
Although Whittaker had been able to fight through his recurring issues with his bottom teeth for the majority of his career, he did mention they also got pushed in slightly during his 2023 loss to current middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis.
Now that his damaged teeth have been removed and he has recovered from the arduous dental surgery, Whittaker said that he wants to work on some things in the gym to improve his game. But he is looking to return to action in May or June and per usual will face anybody the UFC puts in front of him.
The 33-year-old had not been submitted since his first pro loss back in 2011. He is 17-6 in the UFC since debuting in the organization after winning The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes in 2012. Whittaker’s only other losses when competing as a middleweight have been to Du Plessis and fellow former champion Israel Adesanya (twice).
