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Robert Whittaker will be returning to Octagon action this weekend. The former UFC middleweight champion was initially set to face Paulo Costa at UFC Vegas 24. Whittaker admitted that he was expecting the Brazilian to go absolutely ballistic during their fight.
During an interview with ESPN's Brett Okamoto, Robert Whittaker revealed what he was anticipating from his previously scheduled fight against Costa. The Reaper claimed he would've put a bet on Costa stepping into the Octagon and going absolutely crazy.
However, Whittaker also pointed out that most fighters haven't had the best of luck while trading with him inside the Octagon. The Reaper added that Israel Adesanya was successful in highlighting the many gaps Paulo Costa has in his style at UFC 253.
"If I had to put a bet down, I would've said that he's gonna come in there and just get crazy. That's the fight I was kind of expecting, is him just to go ballistic but honestly, I had a pretty reasonable sound strategy to handle that. People have tried going crazy on me before, it doesn't work very well and Israel highlighted a lot of gaps Costa has in his play."
The fight between Whittaker and Costa had to be called off after the Brazilian was forced to withdraw from the bout due to illness. Kelvin Gastelum decided to step in as Costa's replacement and took the fight against the man he was set to face a few years ago.
Robert Whittaker will aim for his third straight victory in the middleweight division
Robert Whittaker could establish his place as the rightful number one contender for the UFC middleweight championship if he gets past Kelvin Gastelum this weekend.
As mentioned above, the two men were set to fight one another a few years ago. However, the bout never took place, with Whittaker having to undergo surgery due to an abdominal hernia of the intestine. Gastelum instead went on to fight Israel Adesanya at UFC 236.
On the back of two dominant wins over Darren Till and Jared Cannonier in the middleweight division, Robert Whittaker will aim for his third straight victory and earn a rematch against Israel Adesanya. However, a win for Gastelum could change the entire landscape of the 185-lb division.
