Robert Whittaker, Marvin Vettori called out by middlweight on a streak despite their losses - "Preferably October-ish"
Just two weeks removed from his shocking loss against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290, Robert Whittaker already has a new challenger calling him out. 'The Reaper' was recently called out by rising middleweight contender Brendan Allen, who also threw down the gauntlet for fellow middleweights Marvin Vettori and Jared Cannonier.
The Australian is widely considered the second-best middleweight in the UFC, not named Israel Adesanya. Since his middleweight debut in November 2014, Robert Whittaker has only lost three times, with two coming against Adesanya.
Given Robert Whittaker's incredible record in the division, it's unsurprising to see Allen aiming to climb the rankings by fighting him. In a recent tweet addressed to the three middleweights mentioned above, Brendan Allen wrote:
"Sooooo @robwhittakermma @MarvinVettorior Jared Cannonier, any of y'all wanna have a date before the end of the year? Preferably Octoberish."
Sooooo @robwhittakermma @MarvinVettori or Jared Cannonier, any of yall wana have a date before the end of the year? Preferably octoberish
'All In' is coming off a stunning first-round knockout victory against Bruno Silva at UFC on ABC 5 last month. He is now on a five-fight winning streak.
Meanwhile, Marvin Vettori was last defeated via unanimous decision by Jared Cannonier at UFC Vegas 75. 'The Killa Gorilla' set the record for the most significant strikes landed in a middleweight bout ever with 241 significant strikes.
Robert Whittaker claims Dricus Du Plessis loss was a "wake-up call"
When Robert Whittaker was booked to face Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290, most fans expected the Australian to breeze past the South African. The fight was highly touted as a title eliminator, with the winner getting a shot against Israel Adesanya for the middleweight strap.
While Whittaker has faced Adesanya twice before, fans were keen to see the two rivals complete their trilogy. However, fans were hit by a bolt from the blue when 'Stillknocks' managed to secure a second-round TKO over Whittaker. Du Plessis then proceeded to have an intense octagon face-off against Adesanya.
What a statement win last weekend at #UFC290, finishing a tough oppenent in Robert Whittaker!
Dricus Du Plessis is the next fight for the current Middleweight king Israel Adesanya, how do you see the title fight going? pic.twitter.com/4gK5eRYAGI
In a recent episode of The MMArcade Podcast, Robert Whittaker finally opened up about arguably the worst loss of his career. Claiming that he needed the jolt to address some kinks in his armor, he said:
"I went out there with the intention of putting my best foot forward and... ended up giving the worst performance of my career... I do believe that this was the kick in the ass I needed to really take me to the next level... And I do believe that this is the wake-up call that I needed to really free myself in a sense, to address a lot of the things that I’ve gotten away with."
Robert Whittaker addressed his loss to Dricus Du Plessis on his podcast pic.twitter.com/K6C12yWGTX
Watch the full video below: