Robert Whittaker suffered a suspected dislocated jaw during his UFC 308 co-feature defeat to Khamzat Chimaev.

The former middleweight champion tapped to a tight face crank submission in the opening round as a loud pop was heard at cageside.

Chimaev forced the tap from Whittaker in the opening roundGETTY

Whittaker was not in a good way after the defeat and shared a photo of his gruesome injury with UFC colour commentator Daniel Cormier, which was then shown to the cameras by DC.

“Khamzat Chimaev broke his tooth,” Cormier said about the photo.

“Literally dislocated his jaw in a matter of two seconds. It was unbelievable.”

In the picture, you can see that three of Whittaker’s bottom-row teeth are badly dislodged, which explains why the Aussie tapped so quickly.

Meanwhile, Chimaev says he felt Whittaker’s jaw go as soon as he locked in the submission.

“Before I came in here, they showed it to me [the picture],” said Chimaev in his post-fight press conference.

“I felt something was wrong with his chin when I pushed it so I feel bad for that.

“I didn’t mean to break somebody’s chin but it is my work to cause somebody pain.

“And make me happy and my family happy. I felt it when I pushed it and it clicked.”

Whittaker came into the fight ranked No.3 at 185lbs and Chimaev is now expected to take his place when the ratings are updated on Monday morning.

Cormier showed the photo on the broadcastUFC

The other two fighters ahead of him (Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland) have already been beaten by champion Dricus du Plessis so Chimaev could be next in line for a title shot.

And that’s exactly what he called for in the immediate aftermath.

“I’m going for the belt, I love my brother (Whittaker) you are a legend,” Chimaev said post-fight.

“Respect, he took the fight. Nobody wants to fight with me, all the champions are running from me…

“Dana, what is wrong with the UFC? Give me the belt.”