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In the loss to Chimaev, Whittaker suffered a gruesome injury as a Chimaev choke caused his teeth to become displaced in his mouth.
"He was just better than me on fight night, I could look to make as many excuses under the sun as I want, but truth is I’ve got the L now,
so all you can do really is just throw yourself back in the gym, get back on the horse. Because the fight went in it's way, I’m not
disheartened in my own skill set particularly much. I’m not disheartened in my striking ability, my knockout ability, so I go into this fight still
with a lot of confidence that I can do it again. Prior to the Chimaev fight, that I did to Ikram, that I did to Costa, striking’s my game."
Chimaev challenges champion Dricus du Plessis at UFC 319 on Aug. 16 in a matchup of the two fighters to most recently defeat Whittaker.
He’s eager to rematch both men, though he knows there’s a growing lineup of contenders to get through first.
“The list is getting too long, now,” Whittaker says with a laugh. “I’m working, Reinier’s in the sights at the moment. He’s going to look to
try and take me down and I’m just not going to let him.”
Should Whittaker defeat de Ridder, he’s still likely several fights away from earning a title shot, a fact he’s well aware of. For FOX Sports
Australia, Whittaker is laying out his dream retirement scenario.
“Four fights. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I want four more, that’s me. I see the stepping stones needed to do what I want to do.
Four fights gets me into that title shot, gets me into a position to finish on top, to have that fairy tale ending. I’m working towards it.”
"He was just better than me on fight night, I could look to make as many excuses under the sun as I want, but truth is I’ve got the L now,
so all you can do really is just throw yourself back in the gym, get back on the horse. Because the fight went in it's way, I’m not
disheartened in my own skill set particularly much. I’m not disheartened in my striking ability, my knockout ability, so I go into this fight still
with a lot of confidence that I can do it again. Prior to the Chimaev fight, that I did to Ikram, that I did to Costa, striking’s my game."
Chimaev challenges champion Dricus du Plessis at UFC 319 on Aug. 16 in a matchup of the two fighters to most recently defeat Whittaker.
He’s eager to rematch both men, though he knows there’s a growing lineup of contenders to get through first.
“The list is getting too long, now,” Whittaker says with a laugh. “I’m working, Reinier’s in the sights at the moment. He’s going to look to
try and take me down and I’m just not going to let him.”
Should Whittaker defeat de Ridder, he’s still likely several fights away from earning a title shot, a fact he’s well aware of. For FOX Sports
Australia, Whittaker is laying out his dream retirement scenario.
“Four fights. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I want four more, that’s me. I see the stepping stones needed to do what I want to do.
Four fights gets me into that title shot, gets me into a position to finish on top, to have that fairy tale ending. I’m working towards it.”
