Robert Whittaker is without doubt one of the all-time greats of the middleweight division. May he shut out his profession with a lightweight heavyweight run?
A former UFC champion at 185 kilos, Whittaker has beforehand teased the opportunity of leaping as much as 205 kilos, although he’s but to decide to the transfer. On the newest episode of his MMArcade Podcast, he was once more requested about presumably altering divisions and he supplied an up to date timetable for when he’ll decide.
“I’m going to determine after this subsequent battle,” Whittaker stated. “So another at middleweight on the very least relying on I’m going to actually try to push the boundaries of muscle-to-weight ratio and all the pieces and simply see the place we come up.”
In Whittaker’s most up-to-date outing at UFC 308 this previous October, he suffered a brutal submission loss to Khamzat Chimaev that noticed his jaw dislocated by a Chimaev face crank. He’s but to formally guide his subsequent battle, although he has stated a bout with fellow former middleweight champion Sean Strickland is sensible.
Strickland remains to be Whittaker’s best choice and he has a June date in thoughts.
“That will be nice,” Whittaker stated. “Worldwide Battle Week.”
Ought to “The Reaper” change divisions, it wouldn’t be the primary time he’s moved up in weight within the UFC. As a 21-year-old welterweight, Whittaker received a global version of The Final Fighter in 2012 to earn his UFC contract, then competed a handful of occasions within the division earlier than shifting to middleweight in 2014.
Whittaker thrived in his new weight class, rattling off six straight wins to arrange a matchup with Yoel Romero for an interim title. He defeated Romero to assert the belt and was later elevated to undisputed champion. Although he finally dropped his title to Israel Adesanya, he went on to rack up notable middleweight victories towards the likes of Paulo Costa, Marvin Vettori, Kelvin Gastelum, Jared Cannonier, and Darren Until.
His solely losses at 185 kilos are to Chimaev, Adesanya, and present champion Dricus du Plessis.
