Robert Whittaker News

Justin Golightly - March 2, 2018

Israel Adesanya believes that destiny has been leading him to everywhere he’s been so far. Traveling the world becoming a master of styles finally resulted in him breaking into the UFC and marking his territory after his successful debut. Carrying on with his mystical journey, Adesanya doesn’t see any other location his pilgrimage takes him other than against Robert Whittaker for the UFC middleweight title. “With Robert [Whittaker], for whatever reason, he might lose the belt then gain it back, or I gain it and he tries to take it away from me in Spark Arena. But I just know me and him are gonna fight in Auckland by the end of 2019, and I just see the way we are because he’s good, I’m great. You know, it’s just gonna be for the belt. I’ve never met the guy. I’ve seen him across the room or across places, but I’ve never really had a word with him. It’s never anything personal, it’s just business, it’s just the game we’re in. He knows. It’s a fighter thing. When you look at each other and you just kind of have this potential of like, ‘Yeah, I see you, you see me’. It’s just a thing.”

Tom Taylor - February 25, 2018

When Yoel Romero knocked out Luke Rockhold in the main event of UFC 221, he earned himself a rematch with reigning middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. While some fans felt Romero didn’t deserve this opportunity on the basis of his weigh-in flub, UFC President Dana White confirmed the plan was indeed a Whittaker-Romero rematch. While we have known this rematch is the plan for a few weeks, the date and venue of the rematch have remained nebulous. Whittaker is hoping he can fix that.

Justin Golightly - February 24, 2018

After Yoel Romero took out Luke Rockhold at UFC 221, there was no doubt that he deserved a title shot. Although, some did criticize the decision by the UFC to still award Romero with a chance at the belt after he missed weight. Former UFC fighter Jay Hieron was recently asked about the scenario and says Romero was already punished and no one else is as deserving. “[Yoel Romero] got penalized. He’s not all happy right now. He got 30-percent of his purse taken, which is a lot. He has the belt – on his own stomach, in his own house right now, he could be interim belt champion, which he’s not. He’s penalized. But you go out and put a performance on like that, you can’t argue that. He should definitely get the shot. I get it. You’re in a different country. You’re in a totally different time frame. You’ve retained water, so it’s already not going as planned. I get it. He probably thought he could make weight.”

Justin Golightly - February 21, 2018

Yoel Romero is on cloud nine after his finish of Luke Rockhold. All signs point to a rematch between him and Robert Whittaker for the middleweight title going down, the big question now is where will it happen? The Chicago card in June has been talked about, but now it looks like Miami is a real possibility. With their big Cuban population, that could mean a huge draw for a Romero main event. It’s an idea that Romero is really excited about. Who knows, maybe Joey Diaz might be in attendance? “I don’t have an idea [of the date of my title shot against Robert Whittaker]. Maybe July? I don’t know when. I hear he’s sick, he’s feeling no good, he’s feeling very bad. I pray for him. I’m waiting. I’m waiting for him. Thank you God, [my leg is] good. I think a lot about [how I’m able to keep this up at my age]. I try to stay [living] a very clean life and very quiet, but I think this is God. Believe me, I think it’s God. It’s God.”

Justin Golightly - February 14, 2018

Everyone is still talking about Yoel Romero’s finish — and his post-fight kiss — of Luke Rockhold from UFC 221. Despite missing weight, the consensus seems that he’ll still get the title shot against Robert Whittaker. After already being fined and losing out on a win bonus, he has been punished and did win the fight. It’s hard to argue who else would be deserving of a shot, but former champion Chris Weidman thinks it is him. Michael Bisping had a chuckle over it and broke down the fight he believes the UFC will do. “You know what’s funny? Chris Weidman, he’s saying that he should get a title shot. I think that’s kind of laughable, Chris. I don’t want to get into a whole beef with Chris Weidman, but you did get knocked out in three of your last four fights. I don’t think that makes you eligible for a title shot. I don’t think he has any case to get a title shot. I think the correct fight — and Dana [White] has announced — [is] Yoel Romero versus Robert Whittaker. I think that’s going to be a different fight. That fight was only six months ago, something like that.

Tom Taylor - February 12, 2018

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 221, former Olympic silver medalist Yoel Romero knocked out former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold. With this win, Romero is believed to have earned himself a crack at reigning UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. Not everybody, however, believes he deserves this chance, as he lost a decision to Whittaker just last year. File former champ Chris Weidman into this group. While Weidman was impressed with Romero’s win, he believes he’s got a bit more work to do before earning a rematch with Whittaker. In his eyes, he himself is more deserving of the next middleweight title shot.

Tom Taylor - February 11, 2018

Last night, in the main event of UFC 221, former Olympic wrestler Yoel Romero picked up one of the best wins of his amazing career thus far, knocking out former UFC and Strikeforce champion Luke Rockhold with a brutal, third-round salvo. With this win, Romero positioned himself at the front of the middleweight contender line, and may well have earned himself a rematch with divisional ruler Robert Whittaker, who he lost a decision to back in July of 2016. Shortly after Romero’s win, Whittaker took to Twitter to congratulate his rival in his own language. See Whittaker’s Spanish language post below.

Drake Riggs - February 9, 2018

If it weren’t for Robert Whittaker suffering the knee injury he did prior to and in the Yoel Romero fight at UFC 213, it’s very highly unlikely that Georges St-Pierre would have had his middleweight title shot at UFC 217. When Whittaker and Romero fought, it was for the interim championship as the undisputed champ at the time, Michael Bisping has been sidelined himself. But after Whittaker’s big victory, he was unable to follow up with the unification title fight with Bisping which led to GSP’s return and taking of the title in an incredible performance.

Justin Golightly - February 2, 2018

Just when you thought the UFC’s chaotic middleweight division was going to reach some sort of state of homeostasis, a big Robert Whittaker-sized wrench gets thrown into things. Promoted to the undisputed middleweight champion, the hard-hitting Aussie was set to defend against Luke Rockhold. Unfortunately, he had to pull out due to undisclosed reasons, which led to Yoel Romero stepping in. Whittaker recently made an appearance and opened up about what took him out, and it’s absolutely bonkers. “Everyone knows I like to fight injured. Half the fights I’ve taken I’ve always been injured. Just before I got ill I pulled my hamstring. And we could work around it and we were doing things to compensate for it, we were working around it, but then I got a really bad infection. And the infection in the end just took it out of me, I was really struggling to recover. And then right at the end of the infection I got the chicken pox. That’s why I’ve got the scars all over my face, because it was an absolute mess. If anyone’s had it, it’s just horrible.”

Tom Taylor - January 31, 2018

A little over a week ahead of Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero’s UFC 221 interim middleweight title fight, the UFC’s undisputed middleweight champion Robert Whittaker has shared a very positive update. Whittaker was originally expected to defend his title against Rockhold in the main event of UFC 221, but was forced out of the fight with an undisclosed health issue. UFC President Dana White later shared a grim update on Whittaker’s condition, eluding to an out of control staph infection.

Tom Taylor - January 29, 2018

Robert Whittaker has not been seen in the cage since he won the UFC interim middleweight title with a decision triumph over Yoel Romero in July. And while he was recently promoted to undisputed middleweight champion when Georges St-Pierre vacated that title, it sounds like it could be some time before he’s back in the cage. Speaking to TSN earlier this month, UFC President Dana White gave a grim update on Whittaker and the health problems that are keeping him out of the cage.

Tom Taylor - January 21, 2018

If things had gone according to plan, UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker would have attempted the first defense of his title against Luke Rockhold at UFC 221, this February 10 in Perth, Australia. Unfortunately, Whittaker was forced out of this contest with health problems, and replaced by his most recent opponent, Yoel Romero, who will battle Romero for the interim belt in the meantime. At first, the circumstances of Whittaker’s health problems weren’t clear. Now, however, UFC President Dana White has shed some light on the situation, and it doesn’t sound good.

Chris Taylor - January 12, 2018

Robert Whittaker forced out of UFC 221 with injury, Luke Rockhold gets a new opponent! UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker has suffered an injury and will no longer be able to compete against Luke Rockhold in the headliner of next month’s UFC 221 pay-per-view in Australia.

Justin Golightly - December 14, 2017

After the shake-up at middleweight, everything seems to have returned to normal. Not only is there movement, not only does Robert Whittaker get a fight, it’s with Luke Rockhold for the undisputed title thanks to Georges St-Pierre vacating the belt. While everything seems to be coming up Whittaker, he still lost out on a huge fight with the former welterweight king. It would have been a giant chance for the fighter just now reaching his prime, especially since Whittaker grew up watching him, to potentially put that win on his record. Belt or not, Whittaker wanted the fight out of respect. “I don’t think there was a doubt in any one’s mind who the real [UFC middleweight] champ was. I fought my way up through some hard dudes to get to where I am, and yeah, I am the champ, I was the champ. Yeah, it was [disappointing I couldn’t fight Georges St-Pierre for the belt], because I wanted to fight Georges out of respect more than anything. I idolized him as a child coming up and as a young man coming up in my career he was always like one of my biggest idols. To be able to fight him would’ve been great, to put him on my resume and say I fought Georges St-Pierre, that was great. But I don’t think I ever really convinced myself that he would fight me. I think it was a dangerous fight for him, a hard fight for him and it is what it is.” Perth make sure your ready 👊🏽 #ufc221 @ufc @lukerockhold pic.twitter.com/uEOtMOTh1k

Justin Golightly - December 14, 2017

It was like magic. Georges St-Pierre left the middleweight division and a tidal wave of movement happened with no one having to fight each other. Luke Rockhold got a middleweight title shot — not an interim bout, but for the undisputed title — against Robert Whittaker and contenders all got bumped up a notch. Not everyone can be happy though, Kelvin Gastelum thought he deserved the shot after knocking out Michael Bisping and made sure everyone knew it. Rockhold shrugged his opinion off and promised if he kept it up, he can get smacked down in good time. “Given how ridiculous things are, I mean, yeah, of course there’s the [thoughts of] are they really gonna take that step [and give Kelvin Gastelum the fight], are they really gonna keep falling further within that realm? But everybody obviously, people came to me and made polls or whatever and I know I was at the top of every list. I know I’ve proven myself, I’ve accomplished things in this sport, whereas little midgets like Kelvin Gastelum haven’t. I’ve destroyed Chris Weidman, which he got destroyed by Weidman, so it’s like ehh. This kid hasn’t beaten really anybody and done anything in this sport, and for him to run his mouth, it’s pretty funny. It’s laughable. He’ll find out for real if he continues his efforts at 185. I’d slap that kid down real quick. Real quick.”

Tom Taylor - December 12, 2017

Shortly after winning the UFC middleweight title with an exciting, third-round submission of Michael Bisping, Georges St-Pierre vacated that title, citing ongoing health concerns that will likely keep him on the sidelines for the foreseeable future. Shortly after this development, the UFC elevated its interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker to undisputed champion. Whittaker’s first defense as undisputed middleweight champion is now set, as he’s scheduled to take on former champion Luke Rockhold in the main event of UFC 221, which goes down this February 11 in Perth, Western Australia.

Justin Golightly - December 9, 2017

It didn’t take Nostradamus to predict that Kelvin Gastelum wasn’t going to like Luke Rockhold getting the title shot against Robert Whittaker. The next day after Georges St-Pierre announced he was leaving the middleweight division, the title was vacated and the UFC made Rockhold’s fight in Perth with Whittaker for the undisputed belt. Gastelum felt like he deserved it after knocking out Michael Bisping, who just carried the title a month ago, and has been pleading his case over social media ever since. “I knew Luke Rockhold and I were both in the front-running for this fight. I was then told Robert Whittaker wanted the tougher fight and he picked Rockhold. In my opinion that is the easier fight because I feel I’m the toughest fight for anyone in this division. I think Whittaker took the easier fight by going with Luke. He’s absolutely worried about me and for good reason. He and I have trained together in the past and know what the other is all about. We know what the other brings to the table.”

Justin Golightly - December 8, 2017

After a log jam that brought the middleweight division to a screeching halt, there is about to be a tidal wave of movement like someone blew up a dam. Georges St-Pierre left the middleweight division and now Luke Rockhold’s fight with Robert Whittaker at UFC 221 will be for the actual middleweight title. The opening odds have been released for this main event title shot and Whittaker is a slight favorite over the former Strikeforce and UFC champ. Robert Whittaker will open a slight -125 betting favorite over Luke Rockhold (-105) at UFC 221, according to https://t.co/qZp1ejgvMo.