Is Whittaker past prime now?

[BowserJr]

He’s been at a high level for a really long time. Someone asked recently if he would decline soon and most of us said yes, he probably would. I agree that he didn’t look quite as strong and spry.

That being said, dominating a slightly diminished Whittaker is still really impressive.

This

 

[BowserJr]

The tricky thing about this is you are discussing multiple moving variables

Peak abilities
Peak athletic age
Peak durability
Experience

And that is all going to yield varying effectiveness against changing competition.

So even though 2017-2018 Rob Whitaker was proven above the pack in a competive star packed era...

2023 Rob Whitaker who can't get a title shot and is 0-2 with the champ could theoretically be better than/beat 2018 Rob.

I would say he is likely very close to the best fighter he ever was, but due to damage, surgeries, 10 years in the uFC with a particularly high strength of schedule, 30+ fights and surely at least a handful of surgeries... he is likely ever so slightly on the decline of Peak ability/performance.


Peak abilities - close but slightly declining
Peak athletic age - yes
Peak durability - no
Experience - Peak

Performance relative to elite MW competition- past prime *
* and as such his results will likely fall short of looking like "prime" on paper.


Also, credit to Dricus. He has clearly got power and durability. It may be more a case of Dricus is that dangerous than Rob has slipped/diminished. Also, anyone can get punched in the face and hurt in MMa with 4 oz gloves and big boys throwing with "bad intentions."

Rob has convincingly been running the table against top 5 talent for 6 years and top 10 ranked guys for 8 years going back to Brad Tavares and Uriah Hall in 2015.

Rob could very well continue to beat top 5 guys for a few more years.

IMO Robs has been far more impressive wins than Izzy vs the same competition. Ya maybe izzy took less damage but rob dished out way more damage

Seems to me it's adding up which is why Rob got koed by a jab, looked slow and tired from the 1st min fwd

 

[Paladin]

His 1st fight was very odd but it looked like he was just emotional with the shit talking Izzy did. After seeing the rematch which could've gone either way I think he proved that was the case.

This loss he seemed tired and slow immediately. He ate power shots from power hitters with 1 shot ko power like Romero and Cannonier but then he gets dropped by a hab from the guy that barely survived Brunson?

This reminds me of Silva getting dropped by Sonnen in their 1st fight

Yes

 

[BowserJr]

Rob has a tendency to get hit in most of his fights. He either recovers and comes back strong or gets put out by a series of strikes. Du out blasted him and put him down against the cage.

Rob is still young and could always come back better than ever or even worse.

Can't take away that he's one hell of a fighter.

Blasted? By a jab?

Rob is old in fight yrs

 

[jeff7b9]

IMO Robs has been far more impressive wins than Izzy vs the same competition. Ya maybe izzy took less damage but rob dished out way more damage

Seems to me it's adding up which is why Rob got koed by a jab, looked slow and tired from the 1st min fwd

Rob has got some miles on him.

30+ fights
10 years fighting monsters
Mostly 5 round main events for last 7 years

 

[World eater]

There's a visible difference between this loss and the 2 to Izzy

Izzy was not the underdog. Apples and oranges.

 

[RonDante]

People just look at age and be like “ oh fuck, he’s just 30… so young”, without looking at how many fights and how much damage these guys have accumulated throughout their careers. Jose Aldo was only 27 years old but had 25+ fights when he lost to Conor, many great fighters in their mid 30’s have that same amount of fights. All props to Conor for that win but you can’t tell me that was the wec version of Aldo. 31 fights are a lot of fights for a man. Too many, perhaps. Izzy and Yoel softened that chin quite a bit, those were brutal fights for Robert.

Last but not least, and this might trigger a lot of people…. He was beating gatekeepers/journeymen after losing to Izzy. Cannonier, Till, Vettori and Gastelum are NOT elite.

He’s beating the exact same people adesanya is beating, kelvin cannonier marvellous marvin