Robert ‘The Reaper’ Whittaker ended Ikram Aliskerov’s seven-fight winning streak with a first-round knockout win in Saturday’s UFC Saudi Arabia main event at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.

Whittaker became just the second fighter to defeat Aliskerov, who took his only other previous loss to Khamzat Chimaev by first-round KO. Whittaker was originally scheduled to face Chimaev until he withdrew after getting food poisoning, allowing Aliskerov to jump into his spot on only nine days of notice.

However, we should note that Aliskerov had been in a training camp and was slated to fight last weekend.

A flood of late money poured in on Aliskerov, prompting books to adjust Whittaker’s price from -150 early Saturday to as low as -110 at multiple shops just before the fighters made their walk to the Octagon. The late money proved to be foolish with Whittaker and ‘under’ backers cashing tickets. The total closed at 2.5 rounds (‘over’ -159, ‘under’ +120) at BetRivers.

Props on Whittaker to win in Round 1 paid +900 odds at FanDuel, while other wagers like ‘Bobby Knuckles’ to win via TKO/KO (+275 at BetRivers) and Whittaker inside the distance (+175 at DraftKings) also hit.

Whittaker needed only 109 seconds to close the show. The finishing flurry started with a powerful right that wobbled Aliskerov. The 33-year-old former middleweight champion then missed a head kick, but he stayed patient.

Next, Whittaker connected with an explosive right uppercut that landed right on its mark and sent Aliskerov down. For a moment, Whittaker hesitated to see if he’d hit a walk-off homer.

When the referee didn’t intervene, Whittaker blasted Aliskerov with two more strikes before the bout was called.

Whittaker, who has now won back-to-back fights since last summer’s loss to the current 185-pound king, Dricus du Plessis, volunteered to serve as the backup fighter for the champ’s upcoming title defense vs. Israel ‘The Last Stylebender’ Adesanya on Aug. 18 in Perth.

When asked about that at his post-fight presser, UFC President Dana White said, “We’d love to have him [as the UFC 305 backup fighter].”

Aliskerov fell to 15-2 overall and 2-1 in the UFC, while Whittaker improved to 26-7 and 17-5 in the UFC. It was the Aussie’s 15th career finish and 10th KO victory.

In the co-main event, fifth-ranked veteran heavyweight Alexander Volkov defeated third-ranked Sergei Pavlovich by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) as a +200 underdog.

The 6-foot-7 Volkov (38-10 MMA, 12-4 UFC) used his four-inch height advantage well to control distance, keeping Pavlovich from getting inside with his long jab and lots of body kicks. The jab busted Pavlovich up early and often.

Volkov has won four fights in a row since losing to current interim champ Tom Aspinall in the UFC London main event in March of 2022. Meanwhile, it’s a second straight setback for Pavlovich since he ripped off a six-fight winning streak with six first-round KOs.

Kelvin Gastelum certainly wasn’t the most popular fighter on the roster over the weekend. He was supposed to fight Daniel Rodriguez in a welterweight contest, but the scrap was adjusted to a middleweight bout on Thursday due to Gastelum’s inability to make weight.

It was a completely unprofessional move by Gastelum, who has had weight issues in the past as he’s fluctuated from welterweight to middleweight for much of his career.

Whatever the case, Gastelum dominated the third round with his wrestling on his way to a UD victory (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) as a -200 ‘chalk.’ In his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier inside the Octagon, Gastelum apologized for the weight issues and pleaded with Dana and Hunter Campbell to remain with the promotion.

Whether his contract expired, or he just feared being cut is unclear, but White was asked about the situation by the media afterwards. He responded, “I don’t know. I’m not real happy with Kelvin Gastelum right now. He’s missed weight three times in his career. You’ve got kids jumping in on short notice in less than a week and making weight. It’s extremely disappointing.”

In another middleweight battle, Sharabutdin Magomedov improved to 2-0 in the UFC with a third-round KO win over Antonio Trocoli, who fought valiantly after accepting the fight on merely four days of notice. Magomedov closed as a -810 favorite at DraftKings. Props on the heavy ‘chalk’ to win by TKO/KO cashed at a -200 price.

In the main-card opener to start the portion of the card televised on ABC, Volkan ‘No Time’ Oezdemir provided some big-time fireworks. After the Prelims provided only one finish – Felipe Lima’s third-round submission win over Muhammad Naimov – in six fights, Oezdemir sparked Johnny Walker via first-round KO at the 2:28 mark.

Oezdemir put Walker out cold with a vicious finishing flurry. The 34-year-old light heavyweight has won back-to-back fights and three of his last four.

Meanwhile, Walker is now 0-2 with one no-contest since a three-fight winning streak from September of 2022 through May of last year. He’s been KO’d twice already in 2024 and should probably take an extended layoff.

In the Prelims headliner, Nasrat Haqparast somehow was given the split-decision nod over Jared Gordon (29-28, 28-29, 29-28), who was robbed of a win by the judges for the second time (Paddy Pimblett bout) in 18 months.

According to MMADecisions, 14 of 16 media members scored the bout in favor of Gordon by 29-28 scores. When Gordon lost to Pimblett in December of 2022, 23 of 24 media members had the decision for Gordon. In fact, 11 of those 23 from the media had Gordon winning all three rounds with 30-27 scores.

There were four Performance of the Night bonuses issued to Whittaker, Magomedov, Oezdemir and Lima. All four fighters earned an extra $50,000.