Robert Whittaker vs Ikram Aliskerov Preview & Picks
Robert Whittaker is tipped to win this main event fight on points.
Whittaker is the slicker striker with a major experience advantage, and we expect him to stay out of trouble early and take over the fight in the latter rounds.
- Robert Whittaker is 14-3 in his last 17 fights
- Robert Whittaker’s last 7 wins have been via decision
- 8 of Robert Whittaker’s last 10 fights have gone the distance
- Ikram Aliskerov has never gone 5 rounds
Robert Whittaker Form
Robert Whittaker is a former UFC middleweight champion who is currently the #3 ranked contender with a career record of 25-7 (9 KOs, 5 Subs).
Whittaker rode a seven-fight win streak between June 2014 and April 2017 to earn himself a shot at the middleweight title.
He took his big chance by beating Yoel Romero via unanimous decision for the interim crown, which was later promoted to undisputed champion status.
The New Zealander then beat Romero again in the rematch, this time via split decision, only to then lose the belt to Israel Adesanya via second-round knockout in October 2019.
Whittaker rallied from that loss with a run of three unanimous decision victories, beating Darren Till, Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum.
That earned him another meeting with Adesanya, but he again came up short as he dropped a decision to ‘The Last Stylebender’ in their rematch.
‘The Reaper’ responded with a points win over Marvin Vettori, but failed to back that up as he was then knocked out by Dricus Du Plessis in the second round.
Whittaker did bounce back in February however, as he earned a unanimous decision win over Paulo Costa.
Ikram Aliskerov Form
Ikram Aliskerov is an unranked middleweight fighter with a professional record of 15-1 (6 KOs, 5 Subs).
Aliskerov spent the first 10 years of his career fighting in Russia and the Middle East, compiling a 1201 record.
During that time his most notable fight saw him suffer a first-round knockout loss against the man he has replaced for this fight with Robert Whittaker, fellow Russian Khamzat Chimaev.
He rebounded from that loss with four consecutive wins, earning himself a shot on Dana White’s Contender Series.
Aliskerov tapped out Mario Sousa in 129 seconds in September 2022, and the following year he made his UFC debut.
He knocked out Phil Hawes in 130 seconds in his debut, and then backed that up with a 127-second knockout of Warlley Alves.