Robert Whittaker admits he plans on being at Australia’s next big UFC event “one way or another” after securing a dominant first-round victory over the weekend.
In his most clinical performance in years, the Aussie brutally stopped the dangerous Ikram Aliskerov inside the two minutes to push himself back towards the world title.
Whittaker landed a lethal uppercut to drop Aliskerov, who had previously lost just one fight in his career, before expressing his desire to feature at UFC 305 in Perth.
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The 33-year-old has been touted as a potential back-up option for August’s middleweight title bout between Israel Adesanya and Dricus du Plessis, who are finally set to square off inside the octagon after months of simmering tension.
UFC boss Dana White believes Whittaker is the logical choice to have on standby.
“Whittaker made it look easy tonight … he looked like a stud,” White said.
“We’d love to have him [in Perth].”
However, there has also been indications that Whittaker could take on another top-ranked contender at RAC Arena, especially after getting past Aliskerov unscathed.
Whittaker was initially slated to fight Khamzat Chimaev on Sunday (AEST) before the undefeated Russian was forced to withdraw due to illness, with the pair still on a collision course and Perth seemingly a feasible timeframe for both athletes.
The other option for Whittaker is Sean Strickland, who lost the belt to Du Plessis in January but bounced back with a decision win over Paulo Costa last month.
Whittaker admitted he remains open to fighting on his “home turf” in less than two months’ time when quizzed on the likes of Strickland and Chimaev.
“It’s on home soil, I plan to be there one way or another,” Whittaker said.
“But I do need to go back and talk to my team. I need to talk to my team about it. We’ve got to work on the other guys who are preparing. I took this fight and it sort pushed a lot of things around. I want to go back and talk to my team.
“Perth, it’s in my home turf … but yeah, let me talk to my team.”
Whittaker improved his career record to 27-7 after the win against Aliskerov and is now in the box-seat to challenge for the gold in the second-half of this year.
With two losses against Adesanya and one against du Plessis over the past five years, the man known as “The Reaper” is finally back at his damaging best as he prepares to right those wrongs and bring a championship back to Australia.