A win for Robert Whittaker against Reinier de Ridder will bring him a step closer to holding middleweight gold for a second time.
Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev will battle it out for the top prize at middleweight on August 17th.
Whittaker believes Du Plessis comes out on top, but the ‘Reaper’ is firmly fixed on his UFC Abu Dhabi contest against de Ridder, and he knows exactly what it takes to be a champion.
He was promoted to UFC champion in 2017, but it was soon taken away.
A dream hometown stadium fight turned into a nightmare at Marvel Stadium in front of 57,000 Australian fans against a rising MMA stylist.
Robert Whittaker’s title reign was ended brutally by UFC rising star Israel Adesanya in 2019
Israel Adesanya was the interim champion heading into the enemy territory as a proud New Zealand native.
While the fans were on the side of the home fighter, it was the skills of the ‘Last Stylebender’ that curtailed any Aussie celebrations.
A first round saw the two trade hesitantly, wary of the power and accuracy of the other, when Adesanya unloaded a swift right-hand counter to floor the champion on the horn.
Trying to reverse the unfortunate end to the opening exchanges, a more aggressive Whittaker lunged in with heavy overhands, which the former kickboxer anticipated.
It all unravelled in the second round as ‘Bobby Knuckles’ was caught cold in a messy exchange with a counter right hook to end his title reign and begin one of the great runs in company history.
The now 36-year-old Adesanya held his title for three years with five successful defences.
Robert Whittaker revealed he buried Israel Adesanya rivalry to become training partners earlier this year
Of course, their rivalry bled into a rematch with a repeat for the long-reigning champion but after a few years an unlikely friendship has blossomed.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani earlier this year, Whittaker revealed he had been training with his former rival.
He said: “We could have gone everywhere… Then, like a flash of lightning, we remember City Kickboxing, New Zealand is two and a half hours away. It makes perfect sense to go there. They have the bodies… They have high-level guys.”
“Let’s be honest, me and Izzy had our rivalry. We had our time, but there’s a lot of new blood in the division. There’s a lot of guys coming up. The chances of us crossing paths again, it was super low to begin with.”
At 34, the exciting fighter believes he has what it takes to climb the mountain one more time, now with the help of an old opponent.