Robert Whittaker set for title eliminator fight at UFC 290 against Dricus Du Plessis

April 23, 2023

2 min read

A title eliminator fight at middleweight will be going down at UFC 290.

On Friday, Dana White took to social media to announce Robert Whittaker will take to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290 on July 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. White also announced the fight is an official title eliminator as the winner will get the next middleweight title shot against Adesanya. This comes a day after White announced several middleweight fights including Vettori-Cannonier and Strickland-Magomedov among others.

Put another one together last night!!! @robwhittakermma @dricusduplessis #UFC290 pic.twitter.com/bczWzJo4b6

— danawhite (@danawhite) April 21, 2023

Robert Whittaker (24-6) returned to the win column last time out as he scored a decision win over Marvin Vettori at UFC Paris back in September. He was supposed to face Paulo Costa at UFC 284 but the Brazilian was in contract negotiations and the fight fizzled. The win over Vettori got him back into the win column after dropping a close decision to Adesanta for the middleweight title.

Whittaker is currently ranked second at middleweight and is 8-2 in his last 10 with his other loss also coming to Adesanya but this time by KO to lose his title. In his career, the former UFC middleweight champion has notable wins over Yoel Romero, twice, Jared Cannonier, Kelvin Gastelum, Darren Till, and Jacare Souza among others.

Dricus Du Plessis (19-2) is a perfect 5-0 in the UFC and coming off a second-round TKO win over Derek Brunson at UFC 285. Prior to that, he scored a third-round submission over Darren Till at UFC 282 in December. The South African is ranked sixth at middleweight and also holds a decision win over Brad Tavares, and KO wins over Trevin Giles and Markus Perez.

With the addition of Whittaker vs. Du Plessis, UFC 290 is as follows: