4 takeaways from UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Till

Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker beat Darren Till via unanimous decision in the UFC Fight Night main event Saturday at Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Here are four takeaways from the event.

Whittaker still a threat, but is he No. 2?

This was a big moment for Whittaker, as the Australian successfully rebounded from October's brutal title loss to Israel Adesanya.

Losing two in a row would have been devastating for his career. However, Saturday's fight could've gone either way, and it wasn't the most impressive display from "The Reaper." I'm not sure his stock goes up all that much after the win.

Till dropped Whittaker in the first round. The ex-champ rallied in the later frames to secure the victory, but it wasn't the jaw-dropping performance we've come to expect from Whittaker.

There were some concerns heading in that he was not the same man who held the 185-pound belt for nearly two years. He took a lot of damage in a 2018 rematch against Yoel Romero, which Whittaker won via split decision, and the knockout loss to Adesanya was devastating.

Whittaker proved by beating Till - a former welterweight title challenger who was previously 1-0 in the middleweight division - that he's still elite, but he's no longer the clear-cut second-best middleweight in the UFC.

Rua, Nogueira brought out the best in each other

At 38 and 44 years old, respectively, Mauricio Rua and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira did the darn thing in their trilogy bout.

Was it the most refined display of mixed martial arts? No. Are they still two of the top light heavyweights in the UFC? No. But was it an entertaining clash? Absolutely.

Rua and Nogueira's three fights - in 2005, 2015, and now 2020 - were all exciting. And even though "Shogun" won via split decision and is now 3-0 against Nogueira, with the third meeting arguably being the closest fight, it's been one of the sport's more intriguing trilogies.

The two legends have been past their prime for years and they haven't always shown up in their recent fights. Nogueira and Rua have been stopped multiple times of late, and they both probably should've retired years ago. But at the end of the day, whenever "Shogun" - a former UFC champion - and Nogueira - a true veteran of the sport, who announced his retirement after his loss - faced off against each other, they were at their best.

Werdum back in shape - and dangerous

Fabricio Werdum looked significantly better in his bout against ex-light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson on Saturday than he did earlier this year opposite Aleksei Oleinik.

The former heavyweight champion tapped out "The Mauler" with an armbar early in the first round to snap a two-fight skid and earn his first victory since November 2017. But perhaps more importantly, Werdum appeared to be in much better shape than at UFC 249 in May, when he dropped a split decision to Oleinik.

Werdum went into that fight with some obvious extra poundage, possibly due to the difficult training conditions caused by the promotion's pandemic-induced shutdown. But on Saturday, that excess weight was gone, and Werdum looked closer to the guy who held the UFC belt five years ago.

Beating someone who'd never before competed in the heavyweight division, was coming out of retirement, and hasn't picked up a win since May 2017 doesn't mean Werdum's back in contention. But I was still impressed by what I saw, and I don't think the Brazilian is done by any means.

Chimaev one of the best prospects in years

I have incredibly high hopes for Khamzat Chimaev.

The Russian-born Sweden resident made his Octagon debut July 15, dominating John Phillips en route to a second-round submission. He broke the UFC record for the quickest turnaround Saturday and destroyed newcomer Rhys McKee with a first-round TKO.

Now, UFC president Dana White is talking about bringing Chimaev back for the UFC 252 pay-per-view Aug. 15. That sounds crazy, but he's absorbed just two strikes - while dishing out 192 of his own - in two promotional appearances. Chimaev hasn't taken any damage whatsoever. If he wants to do it, why not?

The promotion obviously sees a ton of potential in the fighter, and putting him on a big card makes a lot of sense. There'll be a ton of eyeballs on Chimaev's next fight, as he's shaping up to be a future contender and maybe even a champion.

Ultimately, there hasn't been a better prospect than Chimaev in a long time. This feels comparable to when Adesanya made his UFC debut in February 2018, and it took the New Zealander less than two years to win the middleweight title. But even then, no one expected his rise to happen as quickly as it did. In Chimaev's case, though, there's already a lot of chatter about what his future will hold, and he made his debut only 11 days ago. It's possible we're getting ahead of ourselves, but the hype for Chimaev is definitely understandable, and likely warranted.