63 days. Nine weeks. That’s the potential turnaround Robert Whittaker faces from UFC 290 on July 9 to UFC 293 on September 10.
The former middleweight champ is at pains to stress he’s not looking past Dricus Du Plessis in Las Vegas but admits he wants to fight in his hometown at UFC 293 - a card Israel Adesanya has been pencilled in to headline.
Whittaker was knocked out by Adesanya when losing the title back in 2019, before dropping a tight decision in their rematch in February last year.
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The difference between those performances has Whittaker believing he can turn the tables if they meet for a third time.
But before he can even think about that and how he’ll navigate the short backup, he must figure out how to get by Du Plessis, the South African who is undefeated in five UFC bouts, with four stoppages.
Robert Whittaker vs. Dricus Du Plessis fight preview
“He’s going to try and turn this into a dogfight. He’s going to come forward, he’s tough, he’s durable,” Whittaker said of Du Plessis’ strengths.
“He’s going to go in there and he’s going to try and wear me down, beat me down, break my spirit and you see he has a lot of success with that with his other opponents.
“He just hangs in there, keeps striking, keeps pushing forward and I do believe that’s one of his biggest strengths.”
Despite Du Plessis’ impressive streak of wins, which included finishes of Darren Till and Derek Brunson in his last two outings, the 32-year-old Aussie expects to have the advantage in all areas come July 9.
“We look at my opponents and we think, ‘If we were their coaches, what would we coach them to beat me?’ Then we train for that,” Whittaker explained.
“With Dricus, he’s tough and durable, he likes kicking, that’s where we feel his path to victory is, so we start training for that.
“I’ve been training like a dog to grind out this fight, to be prepared for the war, to expect the war to come, for the dogfight that it’s going to become.
“I’ve been preparing for those leg kicks because he’s going to try and kick my legs to slow my movement.
“We’re covering our bases very well to prevent any strengths he might have coming into the fight to not be strengths anymore.”
Whittaker and his team feel they’ve identified why Du Plessis has had success up to this point.
“I think he’s had a lot of success with a lot of his other opponents because his opponents have looked at him and said, ‘He’s not that good. I can beat him.’ Or, ‘He’s not very flashy, I can do this or that,’” he added.
“They underestimate him and I think he beats them because they’re not ready for what he presents to them.
“I’m going into this fight knowing full well what he’s capable of, the threat he poses to me.
“Secondly, I know that my skill set is better than his, across the board.
“My striking, my wrestling, my cardio, my strength, my technique, it’s all better than his. I’m not underestimating Dricus but I’m going in there confident I’m better than him.”
Whittaker has good reason to go into the Du Plessis bout full of confidence, having not lost a fight scheduled for three rounds since 2014.
“The Reaper” even called the round he expects to get the stoppage.
“I think I have the advantage in three and five-round fights,” he told Sporting News.
“I’ve never had a cardio problem because I’ve always put in the hard work but I do like the appeal of a three-round fight just because it’s only 15 minutes. 25 minutes is a long time to be fighting.
“I see this fight ending in a round two finish.
“I want to really try and put this guy away.
“I want to go out there and wear him down in the first round and try to land some killer shots in the second.”
An early night against Du Plessis will improve the chances we see Whittaker fight in Sydney in September.
Will Robert Whittaker fight at UFC 293 in Sydney?
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Whittaker won the interim middleweight title against Yoel Romero in 2017 on a 12-week backup from his preceding fight with Jacare Souza.
More recently, either through injury or factors outside his control, Whittaker has typically been forced to have longer layoffs between appearances.
Despite this, he insists, if he’s healthy, he’d fight at UFC 293 given the chance.
“I’d like to fight in September. A pay-per-view card is coming to Sydney so I would like to fight in September, whatever happens,” he said.
“I’m preparing for Dricus and I’m not looking past Dricus but I can say I want to fight on that card as well.
“If my body’s able to fight in September, I want to fight in September. I’m not really looking at the specifics of names because I’ve got to fight Dricus.”
Israel Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker 3?
On a potential trilogy match with Adesanya, Whittaker believes his time will come.
“I’m confident that I can beat Izzy because the second one was so much closer and every fight I’ve gotten better,” he said.
“You can see the difference between that first fight and second fight, how close that one was.
“From that fight, I’ve only gotten better. You saw in my last fight, the performance I put on and you’ll see in my next fight against Dricus the performance I’m going to put on.
“Every fight I am getting better, I haven’t hit my ceiling yet and I believe I can beat Izzy.
“I’m very much a try and try again sort of guy. I never give up, never quit. My skillsets and ability to perform have only gotten better. It’s inevitable for me to get in there and, if I’m one per cent better than I was in the last fight with Izzy, I beat him.”
Adesanya himself is openly barracking for a Du Plessis victory which would give him a fresh contender to take on.
Whittaker can understand why the champ would think like that.
“Because he doesn’t want to lose to me. I’m a hard fight and he knows that,” he said.
“I’ve given him some of his hardest fights. It’s a hard fight to want to ask for.
“I’m working my way up there, he’s sitting on the top at the moment and it gives me something to work for.”
Whether it’s in Sydney in September or some time else down the line, Whittaker said the satisfaction of beating Adesanya, and regaining the title, would be sweeter than the first time he captured the belt.
“The belt doesn’t mean so much to me as winning that fight, overcoming the obstacle and the challenge and the puzzle that is Adesanya,” he said.
“It’s fun to try and work my way up to beating and overcoming him as a fighter, the puzzle that he presents in the fight game and it’s only making me better.
“I think [becoming champ] would be more significant just because I think I’m in a really good place right now.
“My understanding and my relationship with my career and my ability and being a fighter, being a warrior is much more in tune than it was when I got the belt the first time.”