Robert Whittaker’s next challenger for the UFC middleweight title will be Kelvin Gastelum.
After the pair coach opposite one another on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), they will square off at a date and venue to be determined. Last month, Gastelum claimed that Whittaker has been through too many wars.
Whittaker addressed these comments during a media day recently. He said he believes he’s one of the few fighters that hasn’t been in may wars (via MMA Fighting):
“I’d like to think that I’m one of the few guys who hasn’t been in a lot of wars,” Whittaker said. “I haven’t been hit that much. My last couple fights have been pretty hard, but look at the opponents and the caliber I’m going up against.
“I think he’s telling himself that to make himself feel better,” Whittaker continued. “Because there are some bad guys out there that couldn’t put me away, that couldn’t touch me, and I walked through them.”
As far as how he and Gastelum got along on the set of TUF, Whittaker claims things were very respectful between the pair:
“What am I going to do, walk up to him and say ‘what are you saying about me?’” Whittaker said.
“To be honest, on the show, in regards to that, me and him, we stayed on each other, we were very civil, he was very respectful to me, and after that I showed that back to him.
“You show respect to me and I give respect to you. It wasn’t fun being around an opponent that whole amount of time, especially when you’re going to fight him eventually, but it is what it is.”
