'Who needs teeth?' Returning Whittaker laughs off gruesome injury

It has been nine months since Robert Whittaker suffered one of the more unsettling injuries to occur in the UFC.

During his fight with Khamzat Chimaev in Abu Dhabi in October, Whittaker submitted to a face crank - a hold which put pressure on the Australian's jaw, causing his bottom teeth to cave in.

Hours later a ghastly X-ray showing the damage done to the 34-year-old's teeth went viral on social media, but Whittaker says the experience wasn't as bad as fans made it out to be.

"I'm experienced with teeth issues, so it wasn't too bad for me," laughs Whittaker.

"It didn't tickle. But when it happened it didn't hurt anywhere near as much as pushing them back and getting them wired together to make the trip home. That was yuck... painful."

Whittaker laughs jovially when he recalls the moment he arrived home in Australia to his wife and kids.

"It was cool being able to show the kids all the metal in my mouth. The kids for the next couple of months put my teeth in their prayers, so that was cool," he adds.

Whittaker says he first injured his teeth when he was 19 and "young and dumb" and "mucking around on the town".

The incident weakened his bottom teeth, meaning Whittaker hadn't been able to bite down on an apple for nearly 15 years.

He injured them again when they were "pushed back" during his defeat by Dricus du Plessis in 2023, before Chimaev later dislodged them, which required surgery.

"I went in, got put to sleep, woke up. All better. I got four to six teeth taken out, but the big thing is I got implants put in," says Whittaker.

"After getting the implants and getting them [the teeth] replaced, I should have done it much much sooner. My life is much better. But who needs teeth anyway?"

Dental implants are artificial replacements for tooth roots, which are usually made of metal, which act as support in the jaw for the teeth Whittaker had replaced.

Whittaker's first fight with his new teeth is against Dutch middleweight Reinier de Ridder in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Whittaker is a former UFC middleweight champion who has won 17 of his 23 fights since joining the promotion in 2012.

He is currently fifth in the UFC's middleweight rankings, demonstrating sporting longevity at the top which is matched by few.

Although Whittaker says regaining the title - which he lost to Israel Adesanya in 2019 and is now held by Du Plessis - remains a goal, it his not his biggest driver any more.

"I've got nothing to prove, there's just things that I'm working for. I'm leading by example for my kids and any other athlete that wants to look up to me," says Whittaker.

"I've been in the game so long, what drives me to be better and push as hard as I do, is the kids."

De Ridder is fighting in only his fourth UFC bout after joining the organisation last year.

He is 34 like Whittaker, but has spent much of his career in fellow MMA promotion One Championship, where he is a former middleweight and light-heavyweight champion.

"De Ridder is going to be looking to pressure me and take me down to the ground and make me uncomfortable," said Whittaker.

"I want to get my hands on him and hope for a quick one but I've been training for a 25-minute slugfest."