Following an extremely brutal loss to Khamzat Chimaev this past October, Robert Whittaker is considering a big change in his career.
Robert Whittaker once again found himself just one win away from another middleweight title shot but then he bumped into Khamzat Chimaev.
Following his loss to ‘Borz’, the former middleweight champion now finds himself in an unfortunate position in the 185lb standings.
Robert Whittaker teases a move up to light heavyweight
With a win over the Chechen, ‘The Reaper’ would’ve likely secured himself a title shot and a rematch with Dricus Du Plessis.
Despite Chimaev’s career-best win, the UFC instead opted with Sean Strickland for the next middleweight title shot which came as a huge surprise to the fans.
Following his loss, Whittaker is now considering a move up to the light heavyweight division in pursuit of another UFC title. The 34-year-old has never fought at a higher weight than middleweight.
“I wouldn’t go down (to welterweight), I can’t go down. I’m still playing with the idea of going up to light heavyweight, dude,” Whittaker revealed on the MMArcade Podcast.
“No, it’s just like, I’m a big dude, much bigger than people think I am, yeah, I don’t know, it’s Christmas, I don’t want any stressful questions,” Whittaker joked.
Whittaker isn’t exactly considered to be a big middleweight, standing at 6ft tall with a reach of 73.5″.
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Robert Whittaker comments on Alex Pereira vs Khamzat Chimaev rumors
With Chimaev missing out on the middleweight title shot despite continuously becoming one of the promotion’s biggest stars, rumors have recently surfaced that he could potentially be moving up to 205lbs himself.
Current light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira recently teased that he won’t be defending his title against perennial contender, Magomed Anklaev next, which has led to rumors of a fight against Chimaev hightening.
“I saw a rumor that Chimaev might go up and fight Pereira for the title, I saw that. Imagine that, imagine that. Chimaev (wins), easily. Not easily, Chimaev though. Unless the heavyweight strength changes as a dynamic that Chimaev can’t take but Chimaev will get the takedown.
“Let’s say hypothetically Chimaev gasses, Pereira won’t, he can strike asleep, dead tired, dudes been doing it his whole life, he’ll kill Chimaev in the standup,” Whittaker predicted.