Robert Whittaker has praised Dricus Du Plessis ahead of their middleweight title eliminator matchup at UFC 290.
Former UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker is preparing for one of the biggest matchups of his career. At 32, he aims to get his third title opportunity in the middleweight division and rematch his longtime rival, Israel Adesanya.
Robert Whittaker has lost to Adesanya twice, with the last defeat being by unanimous decision at UFC 271 on Feb. 12, 2022. Although Whittaker performed better in his second fight with the middleweight champion, “The Last Stylebender” showed he had “The Reaper’s” number.
Despite the losses to Adesanya, Whittaker has proven to be one of the best middleweights of this generation. His last win was against Marvin Vettori by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 209 on Sep. 3, 2022. At UFC 290 on July 8, he finds himself in a unique position of getting a third chance at UFC gold in a potential trilogy fight with Adesanya. However, Whittaker will challenge Dricus Du Plessis, who is on a seven-fight win streak in a title eliminator bout. Currently, Whittaker is the favorite in the fight at -350, according to DraftKings.
Robert Whittaker’s Thoughts On Dricus Du Plessis Ahead Of Their Fight
Robert Whittaker appeared on the MMArcade Podcast to discuss his preparation and shared that he is feeling good ahead of his fight. Whittaker had nothing but praise for his opponent when talking about his opponent.
“…From everything I’ve seen with Dricus, he seems like a straight-up fella. He seems like a warrior. He seems like good warrior and honorable spirit about him, and that really excites me. It excites me to have an opponent like that. An opponent that sees the craft for what it is. That sees what we are getting ourselves into, you know, staring across the octagon together in the floor space of the arena. I don’t know, knowing that he is like that just gives me electric tingles, I love it,” said Whittaker.
The former UFC Middleweight Champion is seemingly in good spirits and looking forward to his encounter with Du Plessis. For his fans, Whittaker sharing that the preparation is going well and he is excited about his upcoming fight could be reassuring that he will have another excellent performance at UFC 290.