Robert Whittaker on Loss to DDP: "This is the Wakeup Call I Needed.".

[Substance Abuse]

Speaking Thursday on his YouTube show, the former UFC middleweight champion finally addressed his UFC 290 loss to Dricus du Plessis, which saw Whittaker lose to the South African fighter via second-round TKO in a title eliminator bout that could’ve landed him a coveted third crack at UFC champion Israel Adesanya.

“I went out there with the intention of putting my best foot forward and giving the best performance of my career, and ended up giving the worst performance of my career,” Whittaker said on his The MMArcade Podcast.

“That’s the hardest part about about the loss is just that I know I can do better. I beat myself, in a funny sense. It’s not performing. And a lot of the other athletes and a lot of the other fighters will tell you about it, and they’ll talk to you about it and they’ll say, when we’re asked a question, ‘Are you scared?’ No, no, it’s never fear of my opponent or fear of getting beaten up or fear of getting hurt. It’s fear of failing to perform. It’s fear of going out there and not doing what you trained for the last four months, four hours a day in the gym, seven days a week — and then to go in there and do none of it.

And that’s kind of where I’m sitting in this room, what I’m upset about, because I put months and months and months of work into the fight and working things with my different coaches, with my boxing coach, jiu-jitsu, grappling, wrestling coach — and I went out there and I did absolutely none of it,” Whittaker continued. “Like, absolutely none of it. The work just went out the window.

“That’s the most upsetting part, because not only did I lose — losing is one part — but I didn’t do anything I worked on, and that’s just disappointing because I’ve only got myself to blame on on that. And this isn’t taking anything away from Dricus, because Dricus, he trained, he showed up ready to fight, and he fought, he turned up. And that’s half of the fight, isn’t it? And I didn’t. I didn’t. It’s a funny job to not turn up in, mate. Let me tell you.”

Prior to UFC 290, Whittaker was a perfect 12-0 in the UFC middleweight division against opponents not named Adesanya, but 0-2 against the champ. His biggest challenge was convincing the organization and its fan base that he deserved a third bout against Adesanya, but he’d nearly done it. He just needed to get past Du Plessis.

Now, however, Whittaker is likely several wins away from a title shot. But he’s opting to use the disappointment he’s currently feeling as a springboard toward greater things.

"It is what it is. I do believe that this was the kick in the ass I needed to really take me to the next level,” Whittaker said. “It helped me align a few of my goals, like goals of titles and winning and beating Izzy and now Dricus. I want to finish my career never losing again. I want to finish my career undefeated from this point.

“And I do believe that this is the wake-up call that I needed to really free myself in a sense, to address a lot of the things that I’ve gotten away with that I didn’t last fight, that would have caught up with me, that did catch up with me in the last fight, that would have eventually anyway. And it’s a lot of things that I’ve gotten away with throughout my career just because of my speed, athletic ability, instincts, eyes, all that sort of jazz.

“Mate, spending 10 months, 11 months between fights, putting all that work in and then to get to center stage and not do any of it was really, really disappointing for me,” Whittaker continued. “Really, really disappointing for me. Because you see, like, in that second fight with Izzy, I lost, but at least I did what I trained for. So, this fight, I did nothing and I just let down my coaches. And I know they don’t feel that way, but I do. I let down my coaches, I let down my fans and friends. But I don’t know, this feeling, I am using this feeling as energy, I am using this feeling as a drive, because I don’t want to feel like this again, mate.

“This isn’t how I want to finish my career. This isn’t the feeling I want to experience again. And the only way not to feel like this is to get back into the gym, train like a savage, and get back into the octagon sooner rather than later. Through no fault of my own, the fights have been further apart than I would like. But I aim to change that.”

Whittaker said his goal now is to fight again one more time in 2023, ideally in November.

With much of the UFC’s middleweight top 10 already booked, he floated the idea of potentially facing Roman Dolidze, who’s won four of his past five bouts and lost a controversial decision to Marvin Vettori in most recent outing this past March.

Of course, he’s open to other options as well.

“Or my rematch with Dricus,” Whittaker said, laughing. “That’s what I do now, I lose a guy and then I just complain until I get a rematch. That’s my thing. That’s my thing now, I want a rematch with anyone that beats me.”

Link: https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/7/...8A4bQGf6-5PgBcF1mr__53kuyhMvr2V-t5pn1ipJXgc2c

 

[Carrotman23]

He did come back even better after the Adesanya loss so as of now I choose to believe him.

But he's long in the game and his kids are seemingly reaching that crucial age where they could be a big distraction. Don't think Rob takes damage the same either anymore. The Rob today would not survive through the Romero wars if he took the same amount of damage.

Still, war Rob, and I'm definitely picking him to win his next out.

 

[Substance Abuse]

Whether he goes on a run or not after this loss, Robert is one of the nicest, classiest guys in the entire sport. When he says here that it hurts him that he let his fans, family and coaches down, I truly believe he feels that way and it's bothering him. Maybe that motivation will help him going forward. No way to tell. He's only 32, but he's got a ton of mileage on him.

 

[The Witcher]

Legend

 

[SamuraiBro]

Bobby is my boy and one of my favourite fighters all of time. Hope he makes another impressive run but I have this bad feeling in my gut about his future.

 

[markg171]

It's honestly shocking that he went 12-2 across 9 years where only Izzy beat him standing using basically literally the same style every fight. He never suddenly showed up a wrestler even though he's won Australia's wrestling championship (and recently too so it's not old accolades like college wrestlers) and could've wrestlefucked any of these guys if that was his gameplan. It's always the in and out karate style yet they're just not prepared for it for... uh reasons?

Like I agree Robert needs a wakeup call, but I'm also wondering what the fuck all the other contenders were doing for 9 years.

 

[Substance Abuse]

It's honestly shocking that he went 12-2, across 9 years, using basically literally the same style every fight. He never suddenly showed up a wrestler even though IIRC he's won like Australia's wrestling championship before and could've wrestlefucked any of these guys. It's always the in and out karate style.

Like I agree Robert needs a wakeup call, but I'm also wondering what the fuck all the other contenders were doing for 9 years.

They were busy getting their asses kicked by Robert and Adesanya.

 

[SamuraiBro]

They were busy getting their asses kicked by Robert and Adesanya.

People will disagree maybe, but middleweight is kind of a shit division outside the top 5/6. You have guys who look talented initially then absolutely fall apart when they go up the rankings. I swear this happens way more at middleweight than like any other division.

 

[markg171]

They were busy getting their asses kicked by Robert and Adesanya.

Sure, but like it's always the same skillset. Robert has all the tools in the world and just does his karate style unless he gets hurt. Then he tries to use his great wrestlng to create a break to... go back to his karate. Everybody should know what Robert's going to do, yet everybody except Izzy was flabbergasted by it. Izzy wasn't cause he's simply the better striker so knows what it all boils down to. DDP IMO just said fuck it and took it to him regardless of what Robert was doing which is another valid but riskier tactic than knowing how to beat X or Y by Z.

Point is, he's not some Jones, GSP, or MM who could do it all and in fact may do it all. He actually could, but just wasn't. I mean it's hard to complain about a 12-3 record as obviously results wise it mostly worked, but if Robert ever came out and just wrestlefucked someone they'd be confused as all hell as he doesn't *usually* do that despite being Australia's National champion wrestler.

When he returns, I just hope he keeps in mind his entire skill set. Guys who do the same thing every time get gameplanned down or outskilled at it. It's MMA. That's the point.

 

[Simple Southerner]

War reaper he'll be back

 

[wildchild88]

Love Rob, but everyone says that.

He needs to overhaul his camp if he's truly going to re-invent himself. I don't think he's going to do that.

 

[Portland8242]

People will disagree maybe, but middleweight is kind of a shit division outside the top 5/6. You have guys who look talented initially then absolutely fall apart when they go up the rankings. I swear this happens way more at middleweight than like any other division.

Agreed 100%.

Pereira and DDP are exceptions to this long-existing trend. DDP weirdly put up the best performance of his career against Rob.

 

[Substance Abuse]

People will disagree maybe, but middleweight is kind of a shit division outside the top 5/6. You have guys who look talented initially then absolutely fall apart when they go up the rankings. I swear this happens way more at middleweight than like any other division.

It's easy to say that when two guys have been running the division for a decade. They're saying it about Featherweight right now and did with Aldo when he was dominant in the past. The same was said about Middleweight when Silva did it. I think saying it's shit is a bit hyperbolic. It isn't the best out of all the divisions but it isn't terrible by any means.

 

[Liverkick-king56]

DDP was in hindsight a lot better than his previous tape showed and in a rematch I think Whittaker would have the tools to fight the right gameplan. I am biased though. Regardless if Whittaker isn't "out of his prime" he will quickly storm his way back into title contention with hopefully some more improvements or even the addition of his old weapons like his push kick and left hook.



Whittaker might go down like Jacare where he's overshadowed by the peoples GOAT Mousasi for a top 5 MW ranking but Whittaker's wins over Romero, Cannonier, Brunson, Vettori, KG and Jacare were spectacular... not just the wins but the way he beat these guys. This guys out wrestled Romero in the 5th round of a war, that's cool as hell.

 

[StewDogg11]

DDP was in hindsight a lot better than his previous tape showed and in a rematch I think Whittaker would have the tools to fight the right gameplan. I am biased though. Regardless if Whittaker isn't "out of his prime" he will quickly storm his way back into title contention with hopefully some more improvements or even the addition of his old weapons like his push kick and left hook.



Whittaker might go down like Jacare where he's overshadowed by the peoples GOAT Mousasi for a top 5 MW ranking but Whittaker's wins over Romero, Cannonier, Brunson, Vettori, KG and Jacare were spectacular... not just the wins but the way he beat these guys. This guys out wrestled Romero in the 5th round of a war, that's cool as hell.

Im not so sure the way du Plessis tossed him to the ground big brother style and Whittaker couldn’t get up. He seemed to be at a massive strength disadvantage.

 

[sabretitan]

I love Bob but in hindsight he was so complacent being number 2.. he hasn't had a finish in almost 7 years
.and during that time, he got knocked out viciously twice

 

[ryun253]

Whittaker is a good dude, but he got a little lazy with his defense against DDP who was throwing almost every shot with bad intention. I hope he can bounce back stronger

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

He did come back even better after the Adesanya loss so as of now I choose to believe him.

But he's long in the game and his kids are seemingly reaching that crucial age where they could be a big distraction. Don't think Rob takes damage the same either anymore. The Rob today would not survive through the Romero wars if he took the same amount of damage.

Still, war Rob, and I'm definitely picking him to win his next out.

Yes I fear he is on the decline. A legend though but that he got beaten by a bum like DDP is really bad.

 

[Liverkick-king56]

Im not so sure the way du Plessis tossed him to the ground big brother style and Whittaker couldn’t get up. He seemed to be at a massive strength disadvantage.

He was able to hold his own against Romero wrestling though. I think with a few adjustments he wouldn't be so easy to takedown.
DDP did his homework, took advantage of the fact Whittaker gets his hips as far away from his opponent as possible when grappling and hit the throw on a man who was too worried about getting his hips in position to defend a traditional shot or trip.

 

[leatherneck]

middleweights kinda shit division outside the top 5/6..

MOST all divisions are shit outside the top 5/6