So far, no one has had an answer for Khamzat Chimaev. 

The unbeaten Chechen fighter has slowed his roll in recent years after a blistering start to his UFC career a few years back but still represents a significant challenge to anyone at 185-pounds after making his move from welterweight official with a majority decision win over former 170-pound champion Kamaru Usman this past October.

Whittaker though, who faces Chimaev in the Middle East next month, is of the opinion that he can show exactly why he believes he is the best middleweight fighter in the world when he squares off with Chimaev at UFC 308 on October 26 to scramble to the top of the division currently lorded over by South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis.

“You can bet your bottom dollar that I am training like an animal right now on the mats,” Whittaker told the MMArcade podcast, as noted by MMA Junkie. “I am sweating and bleeding and leaving it all there in preparation for this fight, and I’m coming into this fight to leave it all there.”

Against Chimaev, no other approach will work. The 30-year-old has been efficient in his UFC career to date, rarely even being hit by his opponents until he ran into first Gilbert Burns and then Usman, both of whom he defeated by decision.

Whittaker arguably represents the sternest test of Chimaev’s credentials to date, given that he is a former middleweight champion who in the past decade or so has only been defeated by current or former champions Israel Adesanya and Du Plessis.

And ‘The Reaper’ says that he is aware of the scale of the task awaiting him in Abu Dhabi in a few weeks.

“I don’t expect him to get tired or anything else,” he said. “I expect him to come out aggressive and to be super scary in the wrestling and be very strong. I just think I’ve been in those waters before. I know how to tread. I’m good in there. I am the best middleweight in the world. Beating him will prove that, and I look forward to it.”