Robert Whittaker News

Justin Golightly - September 20, 2017

Rising up slowly on the horizon is UFC’s biggest card of the year. UFC 217 will feature three title shots, headlined by Michael Bisping and the welterweight legend Georges St-Pierre, who’ll be making his return to challenge the middleweight throne. Orbiting just outside of all this, is Robert Whittaker. Ol’ Bobby Knuckles is on an eight-fight win streak, and beat both Jacare Souza and Yoel Romero in three months to earn the interim title. Whoever wins between Bisping and St-Pierre allegedly are contractually obligated to fight the heavy-handed Aussie. Confident and laid back, Robert Whittaker says he doesn’t care who ends up with the title. He’ll crush either one. “Before I got the interim belt, I always had my eyes set on the prize, which is that UFC gold. How I get there doesn’t bother me. I’m either going to to plow a path through the division to get there. I’ve always been open to fight anyone, still am, but I want that belt and I need to fight [Michael] Bisping. So, whatever happens between Bisping and Georges [St-Pierre], let them play around a little bit, but I’ll be ready for either one of ’em.”

Justin Golightly - September 16, 2017

The UFC’s middleweight division has been in a weird, chaotic state ever since Luke Rockhold was knocked out by the hands of Michael Bisping. Some fighters like Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza went on strike, Yoel Romero vowed to not go back his home in Cuba until he got a title shot, and Gegard Mousasi left the UFC altogether. Luke Rockhold has expressed his frustrations in the past about how things were going, which is why he wants to keep the wheels of the division going. No matter who wins at UFC 217 between Bisping and Georges St-Pierre, the champ is supposed to fight Robert Whittaker. If that doesn’t happen, then Rockhold will. “Robert Whittaker has proved himself top dog and I believe he and I are the two best guys in the middleweight division. So, [the winner of Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre] should definitely fight him. But if not, I will. I’ll fight any man at the top and Whittaker is seemingly that guy. I was impressed. First time up in the division, it was a strong, composed showing. I’ve been watching him come along since and he’s growing nicely. Whittaker’s a really tough kid.”

Justin Golightly - August 12, 2017

The way that the UFC’s middleweight division has been booked has caused a lot of fighters to get pissed off. Michael Bisping and his forever-upcoming fight with Georges St-Pierre created a log jam that had domino effects far beyond what people could have imagined. At one point, fighters like Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero were on strike. Jacare Souza used the situation to leverage a better contract, while Gegard Mousasi left for Bellator. The new interim middleweight  champion Robert Whittaker doesn’t seem to care though. “It’s worked in my favor with that fight being scheduled. I have to fight Michael — there’s no one I also can fight — so with that, the earliest I can realistically fight is early next year anyway. They [the UFC] knew I couldn’t fight until early next year and Michael wanted that fight with Georges really badly. So, to me it’s perfect and there’s no guarantees what’s going to happen. I’m happy to fight Georges as much as I am to fight Bisping.” — Robert Whittaker speaking to FOX Sports Australia.

bjpenndotcom - July 21, 2017

Earlier this month in the main event of UFC 213, Robert Whittaker realized a dream as he defeated Yoel Romero via unanimous decision to claim the interim UFC middleweight title, and secure himself a fight with middleweight champion Michael Bisping. For Robert Whittaker, the fight was not without its share of difficulties. Early on in the fight, Whittaker appeared to hyperextend his knee, and as commentator Joe Rogan pointed out, was noticeably unsteady on the leg. Despite that, Whittaker put on an impressive display as he stuffed the Olympian’s takedowns, and continued to out-strike Romero.

Tom Taylor - July 9, 2017

Last night, in the main event of UFC 213, Kiwi-Australian star Robert Whittaker captured a unanimous decision win from the streaking Yoel Romero, and won the UFC interim middleweight title as a result. In the moments after this impressive win, the 26-year-old interim champion was joined in the cage by the 38-year-old undisputed champ, Michael Bisping. As is expected any time Bisping gets ahold of the mic, a memorable moment ensued.

Tom Taylor - July 9, 2017

Last night, in the main event of UFC 213, Australia’s Robert Whittaker collided with Cuba’s Yoel Romero in an interim middleweight title fight. While Romero started strong, Whittaker stole the momentum in round three, and battered his foe to an impressive, unanimous decision win. With this result, Whittaker becomes the UFC interim middleweight champion. He is expected to take on undisputed champion Michael Bisping – who joined him in the cage post-fight – sometime in the near future.

Chris Taylor - July 8, 2017

UFC 213 Results: Yoel Romero vs. Robert Whittaker Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker squared off for the UFC’s interim middleweight title in the main event of tonight’s UFC 213 pay-per-view card in Las Vegas.

Russell Ess - July 6, 2017

Yoel Romero is set to fight for the UFC interim middleweight title at UFC 213 this Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Romero, who is ranked #1 in the UFC middleweight rankings will be taking on #3 ranked Robert Whittaker.

Russell Ess - June 27, 2017

Robert Whittaker is set for the biggest fight of his career as he is set to take on Yoel Romero in a UFC interim middleweight title fight at UFC 213. Coming off an impressive TKO stoppage over Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Whittaker has worked his way up to an interim title bout by letting his performances in the Octagon do the talking and not by hyping himself up with trash talk.

Tom Taylor - June 13, 2017

With UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping on the shelf nursing a knee injury, the UFC’s matchmaking team has opted to crown an interim middleweight champion to keep the division moving in the champ’s stead. This interim middleweight title fight will occur at UFC 213 this July 8, when streaking Cuban contender Yoel Romero collides with surging Australian star Robert Whittaker. Given the tremendous skill of both fighters, many people are having trouble confidently picking a winner for their fight. Bisping, however, doesn’t seem to have any trouble in this regard.

Tom Taylor - May 24, 2017

Last night, news broke that UFC 213’s originally planned headliner – a bantamweight title fight between champ Cody Garbrandt and challenger TJ Dillashaw  – had officially fallen through. With this news, it was announced that Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko’s women’s bantamweight title fight had been promoted to the main event spot, and that the new co-main event would see Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker collide in an interim middleweight title fight. Shortly after this news broke, Whittaker and Romero took to their respective social media channels to make short but sweet statements on the fight. See the two fighters reactions to the news below:

bjpenndotcom - May 23, 2017

Two huge announcements were just made regarding July’s UFC 213 event in Las Vegas. The promotion announced that an interim middleweight title fight between Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker will co-headline the July 8 event.

Russell Ess - April 24, 2017

There is a new name that was recently established as one of the threats to the UFC middleweight title. Robert Whittaker’s second round TKO over Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at UFC on FOX 24 really put the division on notice and notched Whittaker up three spots on the official UFC rankings from the #6 spot to the #3 position falling right behind #1 ranked Yoel Romero and #2 ranked Luke Rockhold.

Tom Taylor - April 19, 2017

Riding high on an eight-fight win-streak, which includes triumphs over names like Derek Brunson, Brad Tavares, Tim Kennedy, Lyoto Machida, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Chris Weidman, Cuba’s Yoel Romero has done pretty much all he can possibly do to earn a shot a UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping. The same can be said of 26-year-old Kiwi Robert Whittaker, who recently extended his middleweight record to a perfect 6-0 with a dominating TKO win over Jacare.

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2017

Last night, on the main card of UFC on Fox 24, Australia-based Kiwi Robert Whittaker stepped onto the canvas with former Strikeforce middleweight king Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. The bout marked the biggest test of the 26 year old Whittaker’s career. Despite the scale of this test, Whittaker passed it with flying colors. First, he reversed an early Jacare takedown, and escaped back to his feet – something very few middleweights have been able to do against the dangerous BJJ whiz. From there, Whittaker began to pick his foe apart on the feet, dropping him once with a punch, and ultimately polishing him off with a head-kick and a storm of followup ground strikes.

Chris Taylor - April 15, 2017

Robert Whittaker put the UFC middleweight division on notice tonight in Kansas City scoring a second-round TKO victory over perennial division contender Ronadlo “Jacare” Souza. The win marked Whittaker’s seventh victory in a row and boosted the 26-year-old into immediate title contention.

Tom Taylor - March 12, 2017

When the UFC brass ironed out their differences with former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, and pencilled him in for an immediate middleweight title shot against divisional king Michael Bisping, their hope was clearly for a positive reception. Unfortunately for them, this booking has been met with plenty in the way of backlash, as its been criticized by fighters like Yoel Romero and Kelvin Gastelum, MMA personalities like Joe Rogan, and of course, the sport’s ever-passionate fans. Not everyone, however, is bent out of shape over this booking. Streaking middleweight contender Robert Whittaker, for example, has adopted a laissez faire outlook on the whole ordeal. In a recent interview with BJPenn.com’s Tom Taylor, Whittaker explained that he’s not particularly bothered by the booking, and that he hopes it produces the massive payday both Bisping and St-Pierre are looking for.  He even admitted that he’s excited to watch the fight.

Tom Taylor - March 12, 2017

Earlier this month, we learned that elite middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza will be returning to the Octagon at UFC on Fox 24 on April 15. The Brazilian grappling specialist will do so against rising Australian contender Robert Whittaker, who recently rocketed into the upper echelon of the division with a dazzling knockout defeat of the dangerous Derek Brunson. While this matchup is an undeniably exciting one, its announcement did catch some fans by surprise. Jacare, after all, is one of the very top contenders in the middleweight division. Though the next middleweight title shot will go to returning former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, Jacare could have easily opted to wait for his shot or, to rematch fellow contender Yoel Romero in an effort to lock down the number-one-contender spot. Instead, the Brazilian has chosen to keep a busy schedule, risking his hard-earned contender status against a ferocious young talent in Whittaker.