Robert Whittaker admits reclaiming gold is a “pipe dream”, defines “biggest goal right now”

A former UFC middleweight champion seems unsure about his path back to gold after his recent setback at UFC Abu Dhabi, but does still have competition-based motivations going forward. Robert Whittaker was the former champion in question, with the previous 185-pound titleholder expressing this thought during a recent interview with Submission Radio.

The 34-year-old recently dropped a close split decision to former two-division ONE Championship titleholder Reinier de Ridder in July. At a time when the middleweight hierarchy is stacked like it hasn’t been in years, with looming high-stakes title eliminator-style bouts set up with RDR clashing with Anthony Hernandez at UFC Vancouver, as well as this weekend’s UFC Paris headliner with Nassourdine Imavov against Caio Borralho, it can become difficult to stand out as a prospective title challenger.

Reflecting on where he perceives he is in the weight category presently, Whittaker said [via Bloody Elbow],

“The belt’s kind of a pipe dream at the moment after losing to ‘RDR’. It’s another loss, it pushes me back much further than I want to be from the title, to the pathway where I wanted to finish up. So, right now, my goals, my trajectory has kind of changed.”

“I’ve worked out I want a few fights left, I want to enjoy the journey. I want to enjoy the fights. I want to enjoy the camp process. I want to enjoy fight week, I want to enjoy the fight itself. I want my family to be a part of that… That’s my biggest goal right now.”

The desired next UFC opportunity for Robert Whittaker

The man known to many as Bobby Knuckles does not have any particular opponent in his proverbial crosshairs; that being said, as Whittaker stated [via Bloody Elbow],

“I’m not shutting any doors but I do understand the work I’ve got ahead of me, what my primary goal is. Everything else is just kind of gravy on top of that.”

In the same interview with SR, Whittaker mentioned that he was longing for another fight in Australia with the combative compatriot, saying that he would love to fight there again and that it was time. The last instance where ‘The Reaper’ did battle in Australia was in a title unification bout against Israel Adesanya at UFC 243 in 2019 that saw Whittaker fall short.