Robert Whittaker shares prediction for Dricus du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland rematch
Robert Whittaker recently shared his prediction for the upcoming middleweight title rematch between Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland. He will be keeping an eye on the bout as it is his division and could be targeting a bout against the loser to get back into title contention.
The promotion officially announced that the 'Stillknocks' vs. 'Tarzan' will be headlining UFC 312, which is set to take place at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia on Feb.8. Their first encounter headlined UFC 297 this past January, which saw du Plessis earn a split-decision win to become the new middleweight champion.
'Tarzan' was adamant that he would sit out until he received a title shot following his win over Paulo Costa and he stuck to his word. During the latest episode of his MMArcade Podcast, Whittaker mentioned that he doesn't believe Strickland can do anything different than their first bout and is favoring du Plessis to retain his title:
"In my opinion, I don't see the fight going any different. Like, du Plessis is such a dog in there. He's gonna come with the same aggressiveness and gameplan... What could Sean [Strickland] do differently to change the outcome than last time?... Doesn't happen often but the challenger beats the champion by decision, du Plessis did that. Now, he's the champion and that was a close first fight." [26:23]
Check out the full episode featuring Robert Whittaker's comments below:
Robert Whittaker discusses Khamzat Chimaev fighting the winner of Dricus du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland 2
In addition to sharing his prediction for Dricus du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland 2, Robert Whittaker discussed Khamzat Chimaev challenging the winner of the rematch.
During the aforementioned episode, Whittaker mentioned that he believes Chimaev should have received the title shot instead of Strickland, but is the next logical title challenger after his latest wins:
"Definitely, [Chimaev should've received the title shot instead]. Like, Khamzat was in discussion when he beat [Kamaru] Usman that time... And then he fought me, beat me. So I don't know, he's always kind of been in the title discussion. He's undefeated. Yeah, I don't know, it's hard to argue against giving him a shot at this point." [27:48]
Check out the official announcement for Dricus du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland 2 headlining UFC 312 below: