Outside Source
Whittaker (26-9) has long been a perennial UFC middleweight contender, even when he hasn’t held the title. However, “The Reaper” revealed that his last two weight cuts to make 185 pounds left him weak by the end of the camp. Whittaker is now considering a move up to light heavyweight, where he believes he can outclass some opponents with his style. While Whittaker admits that he can still be convinced against moving up, he is 90% sure that he will fight at light heavyweight next.
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‘The Division is Open’
“The last couple of cuts have been hard … I feel like the division is open,” Whittaker said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “I feel like there are a lot of guys that my skill set can prevail on. I’m at a point where I could be convinced out of [moving up] but… I feel so weak by the end of the 185 pound camp. It takes a lot of fun out of it… I’m 90% there [towards moving up.]”
Whittaker won the interim middleweight title against Yoel Romero in 2017 and was promoted to undisputed champion after Georges St-Pierre vacated the title. While Whittaker essentially defended his title in a violent rematch against Romero, the bout was declared a non-title catchweight matchup after the challenger missed weight.
Whittaker lost the title to Israel Adesanya in 2019. While “Bobby Knuckles” walked through other contenders, he failed to reclaim the title in a rematch against Adesanya in 2022. Whittaker is 2-2 in his last four and coming off consecutive losses against Khamzat Chimaev and Reinier de Ridder.
Meanwhile, middleweight champion Chimaev is calling for a light heavyweight title shot against Alex Pereira, who in turn is eyeing a move to heavyweight.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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