Robert John Whittaker is a New Zealand-born Australian professional mixed martial artist who is based in Menai, Sydney. He is signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he is a former UFC Middleweight Champion. He was a contestant on the first series of The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes and won the welterweight tournament. He became interim middleweight champion after winning the title at UFC 213; he was promoted to undisputed champion after Georges St-Pierre vacated the middleweight title in 2017.
About Robert Whittaker (fighter) in brief
Robert John Whittaker is a New Zealand-born Australian professional mixed martial artist who is based in Menai, Sydney. He is signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he is a former UFC Middleweight Champion. He was a contestant on the first series of The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes and won the welterweight tournament. He became interim middleweight champion after winning the title at UFC 213; he was promoted to undisputed champion after Georges St-Pierre vacated the middleweight title in 2017. As of November 23, 2020, he is #1 in the UFC middleweight rankings and #13 in theUFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings. In 2008 he began competing in MMA as a professional. He signed with Australia’s Xtreme Fighting Championships and made his debut 14 March 2009 against fellow pro debutant Chris Tallowin. On 30 October 2011 he lost his first fight when he travelled to Cotai, Macau for Legend Fighting Championships 6: he fought Hoon Kim and lost via submission in the first round. He bounced back from the loss and won two consecutive bouts before suffering his second loss to Jesse Juarez, which brought his overall record to 9–2. On 15 December 2012 he made his UFC debut on UFC on FX 6, which was also known as ‘The Ultimate Fighter The Smashes Finale’ He would fight Brad Scott to determine the Welterweight winner of the competition.
He won the fight via unanimous decision to become the first winner of TUF: Smashes. In the three years following his loss to Yoel Romero, he won 6 fights in a row prior to earning his fight against Yoel. He said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald: “I had to have a look back at what I was doing. I had to really sit back and look at myself and say, ‘I was doing what I wanted to do.’” In the same interview he also said that he had ‘no ill will towards my opponent’. He prefers not to engage in trash-talk outside of the octagon, and says he is ‘an athlete first and foremost and I love the sport’ In the interview he added that he has “no plans’ to return to the rugby league. In 2012 he said he would like to compete in the World Series of Fighting in the future. In 2013 he announced he would be competing in the WSOF World Series. He has since gone on to fight in the Bantamweight and Light Heavyweight divisions. In 2014 he fought Colton Smith on 25 May 2013 at UFC 160. He lost the fight by TKO in the third round. On 7 December 2013 he faced Brian Melancon on UFC Fight Night 33. He retired due to an injury and subsequently retired from the bout.
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