Robert Whittaker suffered a first-round submission loss to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308 when Chimaev sunk in what looked like a choke but was more of a crank to Whittaker’s skull.
The painful submission saw Whittaker tap quickly when the pressure of the attack was locked in, and it seemed like it may have dislocated his jaw, which can happen with this kind of submission. This is similar to how Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted Conor McGregor at UFC 229, but much quicker. Face-cranking submissions can be damaging if the tap doesn’t come quickly.
Following the event Whittaker made a post on social media letting fans know his “jaw is good,” and not dislocated but it is broken.
“My jaw is good, but my teeth were moved in. It’s a good excuse to fix them properly now haha.”
Dr. Brian Sutterer, who breaks down injuries across many sports posted details of the type of damage Whittaker suffered after UFC 308. Dr. Sutterer said, according to the image posted online after the fight Whittaker’s teeth were, “displaced into his mouth because his jaw is fractured. So that’s not just that the teeth fell out, the teeth are actually still attached to that lower portion where they’re anchored into the jaw. But the jaw is broken in a way that’s caused his teeth to completely displace backward into his mouth.”
You can see Dr. Sutterer’s full breakdown of the damage here:
He also said an injury like this will likely require, “ some type of surgery to put those teeth and that bone back in place, a plate potentially braces across the teeth. There is a real possibility
here that Whittaker might end up having his jaw wired shut for some time.”
Whittaker seems to be handling the loss and injury with a great attitude, hopefully, it doesn’t affect him for long.
