‘See You Soon? You Can’t Get Into Any Country’

With Chimaev banned from traveling to multiple countries, Whittaker isn’t exactly worried about running into the fighter outside the Middle East.

Khamzat Chimaev’s latest attempt to intimidate Robert Whittaker didn’t go quite to plan.

Chimaev and Whittaker were set to fight last weekend at UFC Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, Khamzat spent his entire training camp in and out of hospitals, forcing the Chechen fighter off the card. That didn’t stop him from challenging Whittaker again after “The Reaper” beat late replacement Ikram Aliskerov in under two minutes (watch it here).

Whittaker just laughed Chimaev’s comment off during an interview with From The Stands.

“Well, I will say, ‘See you soon?’ It’s like, where? You can’t get into any country,” Whittaker said. “Where are you going to see me, bro? When I’m in the area, right? Yeah. So that’s tricky to start with.”

Chimaev got a little too buddy-buddy with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who is currently being sanctioned by the US government for crimes against humanity. That’s left him unable to enter the US and possibly other countries too. But don’t think Whittaker isn’t willing to accept another fight against “Borz.”

“Mate, I’m a middleweight. I don’t pick my fights,” he said. “If that’s a fight that UFC wants and are still are interested in making, and they want me to to headline another card out that way? That’s what I do. That’s why I do this. Right? Our paths are sure to cross. We’re both top 10 middleweights. That’s kind of the game.”

“But right now, I don’t have anyone in my crosshairs. Like I said, I don’t pick fights. I don’t look to pick fights. I just wait until they give me a name, and then I set my sights. And that’s kinda how the hunt begins.”

What’s next for Khamzat Chimaev? The UFC will try to slot him onto their October Abu Dhabi card and hope his health issues don’t flare up again. As for Robert Whittaker, he’s considering a back-up role for UFC 305’s big Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya title fight in August. Robert and Khamzat’s paths may cross again some day, but it won’t be any day soon.