Rob Whittaker lashes UFC legend over 'scummy' move

Former UFC middleweight champion Rob Whittaker has lashed Daniel Cormier for sharing an image of the former’s busted teeth following his UFC 308 loss to Khamzat Chimaev in October.

Whittaker lost by first-round submission after a face crank forced several of the Aussie’s bottom teeth up and into his mouth.

While Whittaker later revealed he had a pre-existing injury which contributed to the issue, a picture of his mouth posted to Cormier’s social media was spread widely in the hours after the bout.

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“I was super annoyed. It’s such a scummy thing to do,” Whittaker said on The Ariel Helwani Show.

“The doctor took a photo of my mouth and said, ‘I’m just going to go show Dana so that he knows what’s up.’ 

“And then DC took a photo off the other guy’s phone to post all over socials. Is that not scummy?”

Whittaker said the photo made the situation look worse than it was and even prompted some to send him concerned messages.

He’s since had the teeth replaced with implants and is ready to get back in the cage, targeting a June return.

“It just feels weird. It hurts more trying to get them set again after the fact, that’s the worst feeling,” he said.

“I would have choked on my teeth. The mandible had moved into the middle of my mouth. 

“The healing process was much faster than I think everybody expected

“It was all seamless. I was back in the gym like four weeks after.”

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As for the fight itself, Whittaker had hoped to be able to showcase more of his improvements but acknowledged that Chimaev’s wrestling was formidable.

“I didn’t get the opportunity to show how far I’d come. The distance I’ve travelled skillwise,” he said.

“It was the initial takedown that surprised me the most. The guy shot from like 2m away and was like, honestly a foot off the ground maybe, it’s hard to defend. 

“That initial takedown is hard to stop. I should have probably taken centre a bit more, not gone straight back.”

In preparation for his next fight, which is still to be locked in, Whittaker recently spent time training at City Kickboxing in Auckland, home to former rival Israel Adesanya, as well as the likes of Carlos Ulberg, Dan Hooker and Kai Kara-France.

Whittaker said with Jacob Malkoun injured and several other training partners unavailable, he needed to find some more “bodies” to work with and CKB made sense.

Asked if there was any unease given the history between himself and Adesanya, the 34-year-old admitted it didn’t feel a bit strange at times.

“I had that when I was walking into his house and I sat on his couch and he asked me if I wanted anything to eat. I was like, ‘Man, where am I right now? How did we get here?’” he recalled.

“It was surreal to sit there. It was good to finally hash that out.

“I wouldn’t say it was personal but I’m pretty sure in 2019 if I could have hit him with my car, I would have. Not killed him, like a little bump. There was no love lost there back then.

“I think we both stand to gain a lot from this relationship and I’m super happy to have made the connection.”

Whittaker added that he would continue to base his camps in Australia but would be “definitely going back there” to get some more work in.