An old adage says “no risk, no reward,” and Ikram Aliskerov rolled those dice recently.
He was all set for the UFC on ESPN 58 co-main event against Antonio Trocoli in Las Vegas 10 days ago when word got around that Khamzat Chimaev was out of his UFC on ABC 6 headliner against Robert Whittaker. Instead of taking the fight with Trocoli, who was a late replacement, he left Vegas for Saudi Arabia to fight Whittaker in a nationally televised main event.
It was a tall ask to begin with, but Aliskerov (15-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) ran into a buzzsaw in former middleweight champion Whittaker (26-7 MMA, 17-5 UFC) and was knocked out in the first round. It was his first loss in more than five years to, coincidentally, Chimaev.
After a pair of first-round knockout wins to open his UFC career, Aliskerov posted on social media that he’ll right the ship.
“Alhamdulilla, no excuses. I don’t regret anything,” Aliskerov posted. “It was a big experience against one of the best in the sport. I’m young, I’ll work on my mistakes, learn and get back into business soon. Thank to everyone for support messages.”
Alhamdulilla, no excuses. I don’t regret anything. It was a big experience against one of the best in the sport. I'm young, I'll work on my mistakes , learn and get back into business soon.Thank to everyone for support messages.
— ikram_aliskerov (@ikram_aliskerov) June 23, 2024
Whittaker has only three losses in the past 10 years: two to Israel Adesanya in title fights, and one to current champ Dricus Du Plessis in a title eliminator.
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