Robert Whittaker is probably one of the nicest guys in the sport of mixed martial arts and since his UD defeat to Israel Adesanya this past weekend at UFC 271, the question that’s on everyone’s mind isn’t what’s next for the champion, (Dana White has already confirmed Jared Cannonier will be next in line for the middleweight king), but what is next for the clear number 2 at middleweight after dropping a second loss to “The Last Stylebender”.
Since moving up to 185 pounds in 2014, “The Reaper” has beaten everyone the UFC has thrown in front of him. Some of the names he’s beaten include:
- Brad Tavares via KO
- Uriah Hall via decision
- Derek Brunson via TKO
- Jacare Souza via TKO
- Yoel Romero via decision (twice)
- Darren Till via decision
- Kelvin Gastelum via decision
- Jared Cannonier via decision.
The list of names is a murderer’s row of dangerous fighters. Since jumping to middleweight Whittaker has lost two fights, both to Adesanya but now with another title fight not looking likely with Izzy as champ, he now needs to go back to work and clear out the division once more, leaving no doubt to the conversation that he is the biggest threat to Adesanya at 185lbs. A Derek Brunson rematch may be on the cards with both fighters coming off losses at UFC 271 but there is also the possibility of names like Khamzat Chimaev, Alex Pereira, Andre Muniz and Sean Strickland making a charge at the top 5 and what better way for Whittaker to earn his way back to the title then by smashing possible prospects. The most obvious opponent would be Strickland, recently coming off a decision win over Jack Hermansson but Strickland seems to be more interested in light heavyweight prospect Magomed Ankalaev.
At the end of the day, Whittaker is probably 3-4 fights away from another crack at Adesanya and short of a drop back to 170lbs, it seems like he may have to go through the fire to get back into contention.
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