Jawbreaker? Not fairly.
Robert Whittaker suffered a grisly submission loss to Khamzat Chimaev within the co-main occasion of UFC 308 on Saturday evening (watch the highlights right here).
The Australian’s gameplan was clear: survive the preliminary “Borz” blitz after which take the struggle to Khamzat within the later rounds. Sadly, he by no means managed to get previous the primary — Chimaev’s grappling was too sturdy and he took Whittaker’s again, locking up a face crank that had “The Reaper” tapping fast.
You don’t usually see faucets to face cranks — the (questionable) normal consensus is that they’re painful however not likely a ending transfer. However between Chimaev’s tight squeeze and his arm positioning, he severely f—ed up Whittaker’s mouth. Pictures got here out quickly after the struggle exhibiting half of the previous champion’s enamel caved backwards into his mouth.
“As quickly as that occurred, I picked up the cellphone and I referred to as the truck,” UFC CEO Dana White mentioned of the submission on the UFC 308 post-fight press convention. “They’re like, ‘Yeah, his jaw popped.’ … If you try this, it splits and the enamel get all tousled. Rob has that proper now.”
So just about everybody from White to orthopedic sports activities surgeons thought Whitaker’s mandible had been damaged, doable in a number of locations. Thankfully, we are able to now replace you straight from “The Reaper’s” personal mangled mouth: his jaw is in a single piece. His enamel? That’s one other story.
“It’s a tricky gig generally however that’s the enterprise,” Whittaker wrote in an Instagram assertion. “Large congratulations to Khamzat, he was the higher man tonight and that’s all there may be to it. I felt nice, all the things was on level and I used to be prepared. My jaw is nice, however my enamel have been moved in. It’s a great excuse to repair them correctly now haha.”
Some followers and media have urged the harm ought to push Whittaker in the direction of retirement, however the 33 yr outdated sounds nowhere close to completed.
“I’m upset, however I come again higher from each setback and each problem so that is no completely different,” he wrote. “I need to thank my workforce and everybody who supported me to get right here. Time to go spend time with the household for a bit. Be again quickly.”
