Robert Whittaker News

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.

Drake Riggs - December 7, 2017

Well, the speculation has ended, Georges St-Pierre’s Middleweight title reign has come to an end before it could even really begin. After it was announced that Robert Whittaker would fight Luke Rockhold at UFC 221, it was assumed that Whittaker would be defending a title… It was just unclear whether or not it would be his Interim title or if St-Pierre would be vacating his Middleweight title making Whittaker the new undisputed champion. The latter has been announced as the case. https://twitter.com/ufc/status/938951789835177984

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.

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.

Justin Golightly - November 7, 2017

Well, he did it. Georges St-Pierre came back to the UFC after being out four years and proved he still is one of the greatest fighters of all time. A career welterweight who reigned supreme before stepping away, St-Pierre jumped up to middleweight and took the title away from Michael Bisping by literally choking him out. It was the cherry on top of an absolutely insane UFC 217 card. However, the combat sports universe never stops. Robert Whittaker has waited long enough and wants his shot to unify the middleweight title. But that’s not all, challengers are waiting in both of St-Pierre’s divisions. Thx for a gr8 week NY. @danawhite @bisping @GeorgesStPierre wat an amzing fight! GSP lets unify anywhere anytime. B an honor champ #anywhere

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 - 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 - September 16, 2017

The UFC’s middleweight division has been in a weird, chaotic state ever since Luke Rockhold was knocked out by the hands of Michael Bisping. Some fighters like Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza went on strike, Yoel Romero vowed to not go back his home in Cuba until he got a title shot, and Gegard Mousasi left the UFC altogether. Luke Rockhold has expressed his frustrations in the past about how things were going, which is why he wants to keep the wheels of the division going. No matter who wins at UFC 217 between Bisping and Georges St-Pierre, the champ is supposed to fight Robert Whittaker. If that doesn’t happen, then Rockhold will. “Robert Whittaker has proved himself top dog and I believe he and I are the two best guys in the middleweight division. So, [the winner of Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre] should definitely fight him. But if not, I will. I’ll fight any man at the top and Whittaker is seemingly that guy. I was impressed. First time up in the division, it was a strong, composed showing. I’ve been watching him come along since and he’s growing nicely. Whittaker’s a really tough kid.”

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.

Russell Ess - July 12, 2017

UFC 213 crowned a new UFC interim middleweight champion as Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker battled in a five-round interim title fight. It was a classic matchup with the two competing in a grueling fight that went the distance where judges ruled Whittaker the new interim champion of the middleweight division. With a middleweight title unification bout against undisputed champion Michael Bisping on the horizon, we may not see the fight take place until next year as Whittaker’s injured knee needs to be cleared by an orthopedic doctor or else face a medical suspension till January 2018.

Tom Taylor - July 9, 2017

Last night, in the main event of UFC 213, Kiwi-Australian star Robert Whittaker captured a unanimous decision win from the streaking Yoel Romero, and won the UFC interim middleweight title as a result. In the moments after this impressive win, the 26-year-old interim champion was joined in the cage by the 38-year-old undisputed champ, Michael Bisping. As is expected any time Bisping gets ahold of the mic, a memorable moment ensued.