Robert Whittaker rules out one future move, but ex-UFC champ might try 205
It’s been more than a decade since Robert Whittaker dipped down to 170 pounds, and best believe he doesn’t have designs on heading back there again.
Whittaker won “The Smashes” season (UK vs. Australia) of “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2012 at 170 pounds and stayed there through his first five fights in the UFC for a ho-hum 3-2 record. But the Aussie turned up the heat when he moved to 185 pounds in 2014.
After six straight wins at middleweight, he beat Yoel Romero to win the interim middleweight title, then beat him again in a rematch. Whittaker lost the title in 2019, but has gone 6-3 since then and stayed constantly in the hunt in title fights and title eliminators.
One thing Whittaker says he doesn’t like about recent MMA trends is champions putting their divisions on hold for other contenders while they chase second titles either up a weight class or down.
And Whittaker said if he was a titleholder right now, his attitude probably would be different. But at the very least, he knows there’s only one direction he would go if he did change weight classes.
“When champs go up or down, it stalls the division out so hard – so hard. Don’t get me wrong – I’d be doing the same thing. I’m no saint here. I care about my own agenda, as well,” Whittaker told the MMArcade Podcast.
“I wouldn’t go down – I can’t go down. I’m still playing with the idea of going up to light heavy(weight). I’m a big dude – much bigger than people think I am.”
The 34-year-old Whittaker (26-8 MMA, 17-6 UFC) in October was submitted in the first round by Khamzat Chimaev with a brutal face crank at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi. He posted graphic details of a post-fight surgery that was required in the wake of the loss.
That loss came on the heels of back-to-back wins over Paulo Costa and Ikram Aliskerov earlier this year, which had him back in the hunt after two losses in three fights to rival Israel Adesanya in a title shot and current champ Dricus Du Plessis in a title eliminator.