Robert Whittaker has laid out what he believes the next fights should be at the top of the middleweight division, as he plans his next step back toward the 185lb title.
Robert Whittaker bounced back from a loss to the current champion, Dricus Du Plessis, with a win at UFC 298 in February, against top contender, Paulo Costa.
On the PPV before that, Dricus Du Plessis took the 185lb title from Sean Strickland, becoming the new champion.
Robert Whittaker wants Sean Strickland next
Likely knowing that he needs at least one more win before he can compete for the title again, ‘The Reaper’ has admitted that he ‘hopes’ the UFC books Dricus Du Plessis to fight Israel Adesanya next, instead of a rematch with Sean Strickland.
The former middleweight champion admitted that the reason he hopes that, is because he can then fight Sean Strickland in a title eliminator fight.
“Call me out you bum.” Whittaker joked on the MMArcade podcast when asked who he thinks the South African champion should fight next. “I can see them (UFC) making that Izzy fight because of the bad blood between them because of South Africa and that whole story arch.” Whittaker added.
Du Plessis and Adesanya were heading towards fighting each other previously, but after ‘Stillknocks’ knocked out Whittaker at UFC 290, he didn’t want to make the short turnaround to fight then-champion, Adesanya, at UFC 293.
“I can’t really see the UFC getting behind the UFC again. I don’t think they loved him as a champion to begin with so I don’t think they’re really gunning for that rematch.
“I’m kind of hoping Dricus gets Izzy in a sense, just so I can fight Strickland.” Whittaker admitted.
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The middleweight title picture
Although that is what Robert Whittaker desires, that may not be how the UFC wants to lay out the middleweight title picture.
Jared Cannonier has been waiting in the wings for what seems like an eternity. He previously fought for the title back in 2022, when he lost to Adesanya.
Since then, he has gone on to beat both Strickland and Marvin Vettori, possibly putting him ahead of Robert Whittaker at this moment.
If the New Zealander did get his wish of a fight with Strickland, the winner would likely go on to face whoever the champion is at the time, setting up for an unofficial middleweight tournament.
With Dricus Du Plessis being the defending champion, who he wants will likely determine the rest of the 185lb picture, and he has recently mentioned that he wants to fight Israel Adesanya in South Africa, to finally settle their beef.