Former middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker has been around the block for a long time, battling the best of the best and never turning down a fight. Throughout his career, ‘The Reaper’ has had several scraps including some exciting ones against Israel Adesanya and the current MW champion, Dricus du Plessis. Prior to next weekend’s banger of a PPV event at Perth, Australia, Whittaker weighed in on the main event bout between Izzy and du Plessis, mentioning how major losses can cripple a fighter mentally.
Reflecting on ‘The Last Stylebender’s’ dismal title loss against Sean Strickland at UFC 293, ‘Bobby Knuckles’ shared his thoughts on the MMA Arcade Podcast. During the conversation, the 33-year-old elaborated on how such massive losses can affect a fighter’s psyche. In fact, the Aussie explained how he also had to face such a situation, saying,
“Then he [Israel Adesanya] lost to [Sean] Strickland, which… affects you… I’ve had that sort of fight. It makes you question yourself, question your ability to just rise to the occasion. When your mind and body let you down, what else can you trust? You lose trust and faith in so many different things.”
⚡️Robert Whittaker believes that losses like Israel Adesanya's to Sean Strickland can mentally break a fighter.
"Then he [Israel Adesanya] lost to [Sean] Strickland, which… affects you. I’ve had that sort of fight. It makes you question yourself, question your ability. When… pic.twitter.com/kr1iVqMhCG
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) August 12, 2024
Referring to his loss against the current champ, du Plessis, Whittaker revealed how he used the last of his willpower to drag himself from that awry state. At the same time, he also talked about Adesanya’s incredible track record of comebacks. After all, Izzy did redeem his loss against his long-time rival, Alex Pereira, in the most stunning fashion.
“But I came back from that. Izzy obviously has a record of coming back from mentally dripping things. So you’d assume he is going to come back better than ever.”
Furthermore, during the same podcast, Whittaker predicted that although the UFC 305 fight might go the distance, the Proteas will retain the title, defeating Adesanya.
Whittaker places his bets on du Plessis to retain his belt
After a heavyweight main-event card at UFC’s Apex Facility in Enterprise, Vegas, the UFC bandwagon is going global with yet another humongous PPV at the RAC Center in Perth, Australia on August 17. Sharing his take, Whittaker predicted that the fight would go all five rounds, and he even detailed the Proteas’ action plan, stating,
“This fight Dricus vs Israel, we have to look at it and think Dricus was able to push that plan against (Sean) Strickland, that Strickland was able to push against Adesanya so you would have to think Dricus is going to push that same plan, that same motive on Adesanya. I guess the million-dollar question is what has Izzy done in his lay-off since the Strickland fight to make sure that doesn’t happen again because you can bet your bottom dollar that Dricus is going to push into that.”
Adding on to that, the Aussie also claimed that Du Plessis will retain his belt via decision,
“My prediction is) probably Dricus by decision, probably, I don’t know.”
Though the fighter isn’t 100% certain of the outcome, his bout with Dricus seems to influenced the former champ as he was also heard talking about the South African’s unorthodox fighting style.
