However, ‘Borz’ made it look easy in the UFC 308 co-main event, where he dominated Whittaker on the floor before nailing a face crank that forced the tap in the first round.

Khamzat Chimaev runs through Robert Whittaker

Chimaev took one leg kick before charging across the Octagon and knocking Whittaker to the ground, where he jumped onto the Australian fan favorite’s back.

‘The Reaper’ briefly looked like he was about to get up, but he was put back on the mat and eventually forced to tap with a Chimaev face crank.

The UFC 308 commentary team immediately started talking about Whittaker jawing.

He appeared to have suffered a potentially dislocated or broken jaw in his eighth pro-MMA loss.

During his post-fight interview, Chimaev called for a shot at middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis.

The South African slugger is expected to get a rematch against Sean Strickland in early 2025, but Chimaev may have just jumped in line after passing his toughest test yet.

“I’m going for the belt,” Chimaev said. “Thank you, Robert, I love you, my brother. You are a legend.

“No one wants to fight me. All champions run from me. Give me the belt!”

Chimaev went on to discuss the potentially very serious injury he inflicted on Whittaker.

He added: “I feel like his chin was almost broken.”

Khamzat Chimaev overcame depression ahead of UFC 308

It’s been over a year since Khamzat Chimaev set foot in the UFC Octagon when he took on Kamaru Usman on short notice at UFC 294.

Despite scoring the biggest win of his career to date, Chimaev’s momentum was once again halted as he continued to suffer health complications that postponed his next appearance.

Ahead of UFC 308, Chimaev opened up about overcoming depression caused by setbacks in his career.

“Well, you could say my depression is gone. There were a lot of problems before, I solved a lot of things. Thank God everything is fine now. I’m human too, I have my own problems too. They had to be resolved,” Chimaev told Adam Zubayraev.

“I fell into a depression and a lot happened. Well, I’ve decided everything, thank God. I moved to another team, everything is great. Doctors, pharmacologists, nutritionists, everyone. I’ve never had a team like this before.

“I used to usually take vitamins incorrectly. I was just training in the gym and fighting. Everyone thought I woke up and fought,’

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