Former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker doesn’t have any plans to return right now.
‘The Reaper’ has been out of the octagon since his bout with Marvin Vettori at UFC Paris last November. In that outing, the former champion dominated. Whittaker wound up scoring a lopsided unanimous decision that night over ‘The Italian Dream’.
Following the win, the former titleholder was linked to a bout with Paulo Costa. However, that fight never came to fruition, as ‘The Eraser’ was having contractual issues with the UFC at the time. Following his canceled clash with the Brazilian, Whittaker was called out by Khamzat Chimaev.
‘Borz’ is currently expected to fight at middleweight next, given his massive weight miss at UFC 279. However, Chimaev is currently opponent less. While Whittaker showed interest in facing the Chechen after his callout, there were recent reports that he turned down a fight against him.
On his podcast, Robert Whittaker addressed rumors of a proposed fight with Khamzat Chimaev. There, he stated that he wasn’t offered a fight with the Chechen, and he hasn’t been offered anything recently. However, Whittaker did reveal that the UFC told him to wait and see what happens with Alex Pereira vs. Israel Adesanya 2 this weekend.
Robert Whittaker discusses possible fight with Khamzat Chimaev
“Someone said [Khamzat] Chimaev offered me a fight and I turned it down.” Robert Whittaker stated on the MMArcade Podcast. “I was never offered a fight with Chimaev, and that’s that. That’s that, that’s it. I haven’t been offered any fight.”
He continued, “I’ve just been waiting, and like I’m sure I could’ve asked for someone in the meanwhile. Like, I’ve been talking to the UFC and I’ve been asking what’s up. The communication has just been, ‘Let’s wait and see what happens with this title shot’. I haven’t received any sort of written contract asking if I want to fight Chimaev on X, Y, Z, that’s not something that has been presented to me.”
What do you make of these comments? Do you think Robert Whittaker should get a title shot next? Sound off in the comment section below PENN Nation!
