Robert Whittaker was recently left hanging after his UFC 284 Paulo Costa clash fell apart.
The former Middleweight champion isn’t getting a replacement for the Feb. 11, 2023, Perth, Australia homecoming event. Instead, he’ll look to return whenever best suits him in the coming months.
Sept. 2022’s UFC Paris event hosted Whittaker’s rebound victory after last fighting for the title in Feb. 2022, defeating Marvin Vettori via an impressive unanimous decision (watch highlights). Many in the community felt “The Reaper” had done enough in his prior rematch with Israel Adesanya to become champion, but the title has since changed hands, belonging to Alex Pereira. For Whittaker’s last opponent, Vettori, he wouldn’t disagree with Whittaker getting the next shot.
“Whittaker, I don’t know what they’re gonna make him do,” Vettori told The Schmo. “He’s beating a lot of people, he beat me the last fight. The dude is solid, we’ll see.
“I think he deserves the title shot, too,” he added. “I think Whittaker can do it, yeah. Because of the grappling a little bit. He’s a smart fighter, man.”
Pereira claimed the UFC Middleweight title this…
