At UFC 308, Robert Whittaker was defeated in brutal fashion by Khamzat Chimaev, and it was the Australian’s jaw that took much of the damage.
A day after the brutal fight in Saudi Arabia, a leading sports medicine doctor has broken down the injury, and he claims it is ‘a serious, serious injury that will need surgery.’ And he adds that Whittaker may need to have his jaw WIRED SHUT for quite some time.
Brian Sutterer MD is a respected internet personality, as well as a specialist in sports medicine and rehabilitation for injuries, and his analysis of the fight-winning move shows that Chimaev has his left arm, from what looks like a choke, actually around the lower jaw of Whittaker, specifically the mandible.
Sutterer stated: “The move doesn’t actually choke Whittaker out, as the left arm of Chimaev is around the chin and mandible of Whittaker. This ends up breaking the jaw of Whittaker. This is not a dislocation, as some have speculated.”
Sutterer then brought up a picture of Whittaker’s jaw after the fight, which had been edited as it was absolutely gruesome. He reveals that the three front teeth in the lower jaw of the Australian had actually been displaced backwards into the mouth because the ‘jaw had been fractured, they were still attached to the jaw, they had not been knocked out.’
Sutterer then added that ‘the treatment for this sort of injury will be surgery, to put those teeth back into place, potentially a plate or braces across the teeth. Whittaker may need to have his jaw wired shut for some time, so this is a serious, serious injury.’
Reaction to Robert Whittaker’s Injury
Dana White & Chimaev spoke about the fight & the injury in the post-fight press conference
Dana White revealed during the post-fight press conference: “As soon as that happened, I picked up the phone and I called the truck, and they’re like ‘yeah, his jaw popped’, so I knew what had happened… he popped his jaw… and the teeth got all messed up. Rob has that right now.”
Khamzat Chimaev professional MMA record (as of 27/10/2024) | ||
|---|---|---|
14 fights | 14 wins | 0 losses |
By KO | 6 | 0 |
By submission | 6 | 0 |
By decision | 2 | 0 |
Chimaev stated in his own post-fight interview that he obviously didn’t intend to break the jaw of his opponent, and also apologised for the incident.
“Before I come in here, they show a picture (of Whittaker’s injury) to me, but I felt something wrong with his chin when I push it. So, feel bad for that, didn’t mean to (break) somebody’s chin. But this is my work, you know. Make somebody pain and make me happy and my family. Thanks Rob. I love you, my brother – you are a legend. I respect you took the fight with me because no-one wants to fight with me.”
“Some rumblings that it might be a dislocated jaw for Robert Whittaker,” commentator Jon Anik said during the contest, to which ex-UFC champ Daniel Cormier said: “Robert’s pointing to his face. Holy cow. I think he messed up his jaw. That is amazing he did that to Rob Whittaker. Holy smokes.”
“He took down, controlled him the entire time, and then just face cranked-crushed his jaw to the point,” Anik said. “I hope it’s not dislocated, because that’s never fun to deal with.”
Best wishes to Robert Whittaker, and hopefully he can overcome this gruesome injury.