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“The Reaper” seems like an overwhelming nickname for the undisputed ‘nice guy’ Robert Whittaker. Perhaps that’s why “Bobby Knuckles” exists. Nevertheless, his personality outside of the octagon shouldn’t be mixed up with his fight skills. The Australian started his MMA journey in 2008 with Australia’s Xtreme Fighting Championship.
Whittaker got his first breakthrough in the 2012 season of The Ultimate Fighter. The highlight of his campaign was when he knocked out Luke Newman in 19 seconds of Round 1. The Knockout was awarded the ‘Knockout of the season’ bonus. He made his UFC debut against Brad Scott to determine the winner of the TUF welterweight tournament. Whittaker won the fight via unanimous decision.
Having two losses and two wins, his career as a welterweight in the UFC was underwhelming. Hence, after the win against Mike Rhodes, Whittaker decided to move up a weight class. He revealed in an interview the reason behind moving to middleweight -
“You know, when you start losing your hearing you sit back and wonder ‘why are you doing it’? Your hearing starts going, it’s just water restriction as you are taking water out of everywhere. I haven’t cut under seven kilos for maybe two years.”
Looking back at it, the decision was absolutely on the money. So far, Whittaker has won ten (10) only lost one bout in the middleweight division.
He will be facing Kelvin Gastelum on Apr 18 at UFC Fight Night. A win and ‘The Reaper’ should get his rematch against champion, Israel Adesanya. When UFC president Dana White accused Whittaker of possibly ducking the rematch, he had this to say -
"Definitely not," Whittaker said in an interview with Ariel Helwani. "I would never do that. Which sane man would? You get paid more for title shots. I guess there was a miscommunication and maybe the timelines didn't work. I guess some people can argue, 'If he wanted it that bad, he would have fought straight away.' I wanted December off at all costs. I wanted to enjoy Christmas with my family and there was nothing more important than that. I got to experience that and I'm very happy. I was there for the birth of my fourth child, which is great. And I'm back working now, anyway. Life is really good and I try not to get bent out of shape about that kind of stuff."
Outside of the octagon, Robert is married to Sofia Whittaker. Let’s get to know more about ‘Mrs Reaper’ as she cheekily refers to herself.
Sofia is from Sydney, Australia. She attended St. John Bosco College and then studied fitness and health at Australian Catholic University. She graduated in 2010. Following her graduation, he worked in a gym.
As her Instagram (which has 14k followers) suggests, she is a fitness nut. Sofia also regularly posts about her workout on her socials.
Other than that, she likes to keep most things private when it comes to her childhood and family.
According to her Facebook page, she works at “Robert Whittaker MMA”. Facebook, you know. However, it also mentions that she worked as an “assistant store manager, exercise science qualified at ASN Miranda”
The couple have 4 kids. Three sons - John, Jack, and Jace and one daughter - Lilliana. In an interview with The Father Hood, Robert revealed how the fight world has helped his fatherhood -
“Being a fighter has definitely helped me as a man and as a father. I’ve had to do a lot of soul-searching on my journey to become a martial artist. There is nothing more exposing and humbling than getting your arse handed to you. Or having a bad day in the gym when you’re expected to be at the top of your game. But it’s things like that that make you aware of what’s really important in life.”
The relationship has been going strong for over a decade.. Both Robert and Sofia have always considered family as their first priority.
In The Father Hood interview, Robert mentions how his wife and family are his priority -
“If I had to sacrifice my time with my family to be the world champ then being the world champ just wouldn’t be worth it. There’s nothing stronger, nothing more powerful than my family that pushes me forward. My family gives me direction and it also gives me fulfilment. My family is what makes everything worth doing.”
A. The couple got engaged in 2013, and tied the knot in 2014.
