Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya teased a potential move to light heavyweight against Jon Jones but Robert Whittaker isn’t in a rush making the jump to 205 pounds himself.
“We’ll see how I age,” Whittaker told MMANews, “If it reaches a point where I’m just sick of cutting weight, then yeah 100% move up, “But right now I’m pretty comfortable and happy with everything flown. There’s so much movement going on in the (middleweight) division. There’s new names getting thrown in and old names thrown out, and vice versa of the Top 10. It’s just alive, it’s a moving beast. It’s crazy.”
Whittaker (21-5) rebounded from his title loss to Adesanya at UFC 243, picking up a unanimous decision victory over Darren Till at UFC Fight Island 3 last month. “The Reaper” is tentatively scheduled to fight Jared Cannonier at UFC 254 although Whittaker revealed no bout agreement has been signed.
“I’m always lucky and fortunate enough to get out of that last fight with no injuries or anything of the sort,” Whittaker explained.”And I wanted to get another fight in the end of the year so like, let’s just jump back in it. I’m enjoying it so much like I’m having a lot of fun. Me and Jared have both said ‘yes’ to the fight. There’s been no signing or contracts just yet but it looks like this fight is going to happen.”
Cannonier (13-4) hasn’t fought since his knockout win over Jack Hermansson at UFC Norway in September. The 36-year-old is currently recovering from a pectoral injury but expects to be ready to go for October 24. Robert Whittaker believes he can be the first fighter to knock out Cannonier in the middleweight division.
“I think I’ll put him away in the late in a second,” Whittaker said. “I think I’m going to be too much. I think I’m going to pepper him and just sting him for half a round and it’s just going to be too much.”
UFC 254 takes place on October 24, lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov looks to unify his championship against interim titleholder Justin Gaethje in the main event.
