Robert Whittaker News

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.

Justin Golightly - January 13, 2018

Robert Whittaker’s fight with Luke Rockhold for UFC 221 felt like the middleweight division was finally going to be set back to normal. First there were two titles, until Georges St-Pierre took the undisputed belt from Michael Bisping and vacated it only a month later. With Bisping retiring, St-Pierre leaving the division and Whittaker promoted to the sole champion, the chaos seemed to be settling. Enter the injury bug. Whittaker was forcibly removed from the fight due to an undisclosed injury and has recently released some statements apologizing to his fans. “I’m beyond disappointed that I’m unable to defend the title in my home country of Australia. I hope the fans enjoy what should be a great night of fights at UFC 221, and I look forward to a recovery as soon as possible that will have me back in the Octagon to face the winner of the main event.” — Robert Whittaker speaking to ESPN.

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

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.

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 out of action for some time. In the wake of this development, the UFC promoted 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.

Drake Riggs - December 7, 2017

There were rumblings and rumors floating around about this fight potentially coming to fruition. Especially after current UFC Middleweight champion, Georges St-Pierre’s recent news regarding whether or not he’ll come back to the division where he said, “I don’t think so”.  GSP is battling ulcerative colitis anyway so prior to his recent interview it was expected that the Interim champion, Robert Whittaker would indeed defend his title before challenging for GSP’s anyway. But now everything is set. Ariel Helwani broke the news that former UFC and Strikeforce Middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold would be the next man to challenge for a UFC Middleweight title.

Tom Taylor - December 6, 2017

With UFC middleweight Georges St-Pierre currently sidelined with an injury, the promotion’s interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker is now expected to defend his title. The interim champion’s first title defense is expected to occur at UFC 221 this February 11, in Perth, Western Australia. His opponent is expected to be former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold. News of this planned booking comes from Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com.

Chris Taylor - November 19, 2017

UFC officials hope to have middleweight champ Georges St-Pierre return to action at UFC 221 this February in Perth, Australia. “Listen, bottom line is that we want to have Robbie (Whittaker) fight in Perth,” David Shaw, UFC Vice President of international content said at the UFC Fight Night 121 post-fight press conference via Forbes. “The stars are sort of aligning for that event, having a pay-per-view there. First time in Western Australia, which is meaningful to us. We want to blow it out of the water and make it a very significant event and make a real impact, not only for Western Australians but for Australian fans all over the country.”

Russell Ess - November 9, 2017

There have been some debates on how Georges St-Pierre performed in his return to the Octagon after being away from competition for nearly four years. Nonetheless, the former UFC welterweight kingpin secured a dramatic finish, choking Michael Bisping unconscious to become the new UFC middleweight champion and fourth fighter in history to become a two-division UFC champ.

Tom Taylor - November 7, 2017

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 217, the world watched on as former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre returned from a four-year hiatus to defeat Michael Bisping and win the UFC middleweight belt. Of all the people watching on as St-Pierre made this triumphant return, none had quite the same interest as UFC interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker – the man widely expected to be St-Pierre’s next opponent. While the ever-classy Whittaker was impressed with St-Pierre’s win, he did see some holes in the Canadian’s game – mainly his speed.

Justin Golightly - November 1, 2017

The UFC is coming back to Australia in February for UFC 221. According to a report by Perth Now, Robert Whittaker is scheduled to appear, which definitely makes sense for the hard-hitting Aussie. It was natural to assume that UFC interim middleweight champ Whittaker and whoever comes out the actual middleweight champion at UFC 217, would attempt to unify the titles at UFC 221. However, Michael Bisping put a cork in those plans if he’s still got the strap after this Saturday. “Yeah, yeah [UFC 221 on February 11th is a quick turnaround]. I’m not awfully keen on fighting down in Australia. I mean, my wife’s Australian. I’ve fought in Australia three or four times already from one career. My next fight, if I have any say in it, is going to be in Manchester. Obviously, I don’t own the UFC, but If I beat Georges [St-Pierre] I’d like to think I still get a bit of say in it. I’d like that to be in Manchester, but we’ll see.”

Justin Golightly - October 27, 2017

Last year, Derek Brunson squared off with hard-hitting Aussie Robert Whittaker and it didn’t exactly go his way. He came out like a man possessed, desperately wanting to get his fifth knockout in a row and the title shot that would come with it. Instead, he got his lights turned off by Robert Whittaker and the rest is history. Now Whittaker has an interim middleweight belt and will be waiting to unify against either Michael Bisping or Georges St-Pierre. It’s a loss that still haunts Brunson, who still believes he has what it takes to get the W against the interim champ. “I like to be aggressive, I like to finish fights. But I’ve been doing a better job of finding that balance. I’m a very smart guy also, when it comes to learning how to be more strategic and not pretty much destroy your hand in one fight. I think the one fight that cost me the most was the [Robert] Whittaker fight when I was super aggressive, but you look at that fight, I had him rocked the whole time. I’m sure he knows I could put him away also, but you don’t want to put yourself in those fifty-fifty positions. Let your skills be on show. I still wanna keep my aggressive ways and let mu skills be on display.”

Justin Golightly - September 20, 2017

Rising up slowly on the horizon is UFC’s biggest card of the year. UFC 217 will feature three title shots, headlined by Michael Bisping and the welterweight legend Georges St-Pierre, who’ll be making his return to challenge the middleweight throne. Orbiting just outside of all this, is Robert Whittaker. Ol’ Bobby Knuckles is on an eight-fight win streak, and beat both Jacare Souza and Yoel Romero in three months to earn the interim title. Whoever wins between Bisping and St-Pierre allegedly are contractually obligated to fight the heavy-handed Aussie. Confident and laid back, Robert Whittaker says he doesn’t care who ends up with the title. He’ll crush either one. “Before I got the interim belt, I always had my eyes set on the prize, which is that UFC gold. How I get there doesn’t bother me. I’m either going to to plow a path through the division to get there. I’ve always been open to fight anyone, still am, but I want that belt and I need to fight [Michael] Bisping. So, whatever happens between Bisping and Georges [St-Pierre], let them play around a little bit, but I’ll be ready for either one of ’em.”

Justin Golightly - August 12, 2017

The way that the UFC’s middleweight division has been booked has caused a lot of fighters to get pissed off. Michael Bisping and his forever-upcoming fight with Georges St-Pierre created a log jam that had domino effects far beyond what people could have imagined. At one point, fighters like Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero were on strike. Jacare Souza used the situation to leverage a better contract, while Gegard Mousasi left for Bellator. The new interim middleweight  champion Robert Whittaker doesn’t seem to care though. “It’s worked in my favor with that fight being scheduled. I have to fight Michael — there’s no one I also can fight — so with that, the earliest I can realistically fight is early next year anyway. They [the UFC] knew I couldn’t fight until early next year and Michael wanted that fight with Georges really badly. So, to me it’s perfect and there’s no guarantees what’s going to happen. I’m happy to fight Georges as much as I am to fight Bisping.” — Robert Whittaker speaking to FOX Sports Australia.

bjpenndotcom - July 21, 2017

Earlier this month in the main event of UFC 213, Robert Whittaker realized a dream as he defeated Yoel Romero via unanimous decision to claim the interim UFC middleweight title, and secure himself a fight with middleweight champion Michael Bisping. For Robert Whittaker, the fight was not without its share of difficulties. Early on in the fight, Whittaker appeared to hyperextend his knee, and as commentator Joe Rogan pointed out, was noticeably unsteady on the leg. Despite that, Whittaker put on an impressive display as he stuffed the Olympian’s takedowns, and continued to out-strike Romero.