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Robert Whittaker was inspired by Alexander Volkanovski to continue pursuing another UFC title.
On April 12, Volkanovski silenced the doubters by defeating Diego Lopes for the vacant UFC featherweight title. 'The Great' overcame several negative narratives regarding his age and consecutive knockout losses.
Whittaker, a former UFC middleweight champion coming off a loss, recently appeared on Fox Sports Australia and provided this update about his fighting career:
"They haven't locked me in for anything just yet. I think the end of June is a bit too soon now for them to put me on something. There were rumors that I was going to fight before that even like potentially at the Baku card. Nothing kind of got locked away, settled or anything like that. They threw names at me, I said yes to every single one of them. I wanted to fight [Sean] Strickland because I thought it made sense."
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Whittaker followed up by praising Volkanovski for reclaiming a UFC title:
"I'm in that trajectory of heading back to the title, of walking back and making my way to get the gold. Especially after seeing Volk win the title back. There's nothing more inspiring than seeing him win the title back."
Robert Whittaker last fought in October 2024, suffering a first-round submission loss against Khamzat Chimaev. The 34-year-old plans to bounce back later this year and potentially re-enter the middleweight title picture.
Check out Robert Whittaker's comments below:
UFC announces Robert Whittaker will fight Reinier de Ridder in July
On Saturday, the UFC officially announced that Robert Whittaker will headline their return to Abu Dhabi on July 6.
Whittaker, ranked number five in the middleweight division, has been scheduled to face the No.13-ranked Reinier de Ridder.
De Ridder, a former multi-division champion in ONE Championship, started his UFC tenure with submission wins against Gerald Meerschaert (November 2024) and Kevin Holland (January 18).
On May 3, De Ridder put the division on notice by becoming the first fighter to defeat Bo Nickal. The Dutchman earned a performance bonus for his second-round knockout against Nickal.
With a win against Whittaker, De Ridder would skyrocket up the middleweight rankings and further validate his world title potential.
