Robert Whittaker explains why he’s “so happy” he’s fighting Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290

Robert Whittaker is pleased he got matched up with Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290.

Whittaker is set for a title-eliminator fight against Du Plessis in a very intriguing middleweight scrap. Although Israel Adesanya called out Du Plessis, Whittaker says he likes the way the South African is handling his career by taking the toughest fights possible.

“I think I read somewhere that he actually commented on that and saying, I’m not here to do the smart thing, I’m here to fight. That’s why I am so happy with this fight. Because like I will respect that and give you a fight with everything that I have,” Whittaker said on his MMArcade Podcast. “That is the game for me. That is the craft, that is fulfilling to me in my warrior spirit.”

RELATED: Robert Whittaker claims Israel Adesanya doesn’t want to fight him again.

Part of the reason why Robert Whittaker is excited about the matchup as well as he knows Dricus Du Plessis is down to scrap and makes fights entertaining. With Du Plessis always wanting to scrap and being a warrior, Whittaker says that excites him and motivates him to train even harder.

“From everything I’ve seen with Dricus, he seems like a straight-up fella. He seems like a warrior. He’s got like a good warrior and honorable spirit about him,” Whittaker said. “That really excites me. It excites me to have an opponent like that. An opponent that sees the craft for what it is for, sees what we are getting ourselves into, staring across the Octagon together in the, in the floor space of the arena. Knowing he’s like that just gave me electric tingles. I love it.”

Whittaker is coming off a decision win over Marvin Vettori. Should he get past Du Plessis at UFC 290 he will be facing Israel Adesanya next time out for the belt.