Robert Whittaker is moving up to light heavyweight – and he couldn’t really care less what the critics think.
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Australia’s first ever UFC champion is coming off a two-fight skid that has stalled his title hopes, but he’s long been eyeing the 205-pound (92 kg) division – and now he’s ready to make the jump.
“I’m going to give it a go,” Whittaker told Submission Radio.
“I know a lot of naysayers, a lot of things on the Internet saying ‘small this, small that.’ Shut up, dude. I want to give it a go.
“I’m on the tail end of my career, so I’ve got to try rather than just thinking about what ifs.”
It makes perfect sense for the Sydneysider, who began his UFC career in 2012 as a welterweight by winning the Australia vs. England edition of The Ultimate Fighter.
He showed promise at 170 pounds (77kg), but it was at middleweight (84kg) that ‘Bobby Knuckles’ truly hit his stride – racking up eight straight wins and capturing UFC gold.
That streak came to an end in 2019 with a knockout loss to Israel Adesanya in Melbourne at UFC 243, and the path back to the belt has been a rocky one ever since.
Still, Whittaker has claimed some huge scalps along the way, taking out the likes of Darren Till, Jared Cannonier, and Paulo Costa.
“I’ve been playing with the idea for a long time,” Whittaker said.
“During the break, I was training at a heavier weight. I want to lock in and move into this weight division.
“There’s no doubt in my mind I could make middleweight. I can make it still, I can lose the weight, but I just don’t know if I’m getting the best out of myself, having to cut that weight.
“The camp performance kind of really suffers on the back end of a weight card and a lot of fighters can testify to that.”
Whittaker is aiming for a June return in his new weight class. After back-to-back defeats – the first of his career in more than a decade – he’ll be easing into things.
“I want to give myself the appropriate amount of time to really get all the gears going again,” Whittaker said.
“Especially if I’m moving up to 205, I want to adjust to the weight. I want to perform at the weight. I want to build some muscle, etc.
“I want to give myself like a decent leg of work, like a good four months to prep and come in there at my best.”
Fight fans are often amazed at just how much weight some fighters cut before a bout.
Whittaker has always found it easy to pack on the pounds when he’s not monitoring his diet or training intensely.
“I’m going to try and put on a little bit of muscle, but I’m not going to put too much,” Whittaker said.
“I walk around heavy anyway. I’m heavy. I walk around like 107, 108 (KG), just cruising.
“Obviously that’s not shredded, so I want to try and bring that back, shred up, just train fed, train fully fueled, and get the most out of my camps, and come into fight week feeling good for once.”
While it’s not uncommon for fighters to move between a couple of divisions, it’s rare these days to see someone compete across three separate weight classes.
And this move comes with genuine risk.
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At light heavyweight, Whittaker will likely be giving up height and reach to most of the division’s top contenders.
He was often the shorter fighter even at 185 pounds – and that gap is only going to be more noticeable against the bigger frames at 205.
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