Robert Whittaker vows to ‘surprise some people’ with new fighting style after painful Khamzat Chimaev loss

Robert Whittaker plans to reinvent himself in 2025.

The former UFC middleweight champion recently suffered a major setback in his bid to become a two-time titleholder when he took on Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308 in October.

'Borz' quickly took him to the ground and applied a vicious face-crank submission that shifted the Australian fighter's teeth, forcing him to tap out.

Amazingly, Robert Whittaker is already back in the gym and working on a new style after making his way to the top of MMA by fighting the same way for 12 years.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Robert Whittaker is mixing things up after UFC 308

Robert Whittaker has been relatively quiet since losing to Chimaev, and was quick to claim that the problem with his teeth was caused by a long-term health problem.

'The Reaper' recently appeared on a podcast where he revealed the huge discovery made by doctors who fixed his teeth and explained why he couldn't avoid being taken down by Chimaev.

Whittaker also revealed that he is currently working on a new fighting style.

The 33-year-old is confident he can return to the title mix, but he feels the need to change his game, which may have been discovered by the new wave of MMA stars

“I'm turning 34 in December,” Whittaker said on the MMArcade podcast. “I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. I still have some goals that I want to achieve. I'm working on some new skills.

“I've been fighting the same way for twelve years. A lot of these new guys coming up watched me when they were kids. So I think the manuscript on how I fight is there, it's time to change things up a bit.

'I'm going to surprise some people. Let's leave it at that for now.

“To be honest, I haven't even developed it yet, I have to work on it. I've been hit in the head about 400 times today [laughs]. The style doesn't work yet, but we're working on it.”

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Who should get the next shot at the middleweight title?

Sean Strickland has been on the sidelines waiting for a rematch with middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis since beating Paulo Costa in June.

However, some people believe that Khamzat Chimaev's impressive performance against Robert Whittaker was enough to make him the number one contender at 185 pounds.

Du Plessis says he would prefer to face Chimaev, but who does Whittaker think should get the next shot at the middleweight title?

“I think [Khamzat] should go straight to Dricus,” he added.

“I don't think sitting out should be rewarded.”

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