Robert Whittaker has put his UFC title aspirations on hold after his first losing skid at middleweight.
Whittaker (26-9 MMA, 17-7 UFC) is coming off back-to-back losses to current champion Khamzat Chimaev and most recently a split decision to Reinier de Ridder in the UFC on ABC 9 headliner in July.
The former UFC middleweight champion acknowledges that he’s now further away from title contention and will prioritize different things moving forward.
“The belt is kind of like a pipe dream at the moment after losing to De Ridder,” Whittaker told Submission Radio. “It’s another loss. It pushes me back into much further than I want to be from the title, the pathway to where I wanted to finish up. So right now my trajectory has kind of changed. I’ve got a few fights left. I want to enjoy the journey. I want to enjoy the fights.
“I want to enjoy the camp process. I want to enjoy fight week. I want to enjoy the fight itself. I want my family to be part of that. I want my boys and my kids to see the show, see the background of the big corporation that is the UFC, the most professional MMA tournament in the world through eyes nobody else can before I wrap things up. So that’s my biggest goal right now.”
Whittaker was asked about entertaining light heavyweight to ride out his career.
“Yeah, maybe,” Whittaker said. “Maybe. I’ve been thinking about it lately. Hard to say. I feel everyone says I’m a small middleweight, but like, it takes a lot out of me regardless if I’m a small middleweight. It takes a lot out of me to make the middleweight division.
“I feel better being heavier, but I’ve got short arms, and I’m not super tall, and I don’t like fighting tall guys, and there’s lots of tall guys in the light heavyweight division, you know? But Johnny Walker had a good win on the weekend, as well. It’s good to see him get up. So I don’t know. Let’s wait and see.”
