After getting defeated by Dricus Du Plessis, Robert Whittaker thinks that the victor’s title shot with Sean Strickland is fair. In his recent statement, Whittaker lauded the win of the South African, suggesting the shot is his prize at the end.
To recall, Du Plessis was the original pick to fight Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 in September after successfully taking down Whittaker at UFC 290 in July. However, despite successfully claiming the title, the bout caused him injury in his foot, preventing him from facing Adesanya. With this, Du Plessis was replaced by Strickland, who successfully defeated The Last Stylebender.
Fortunately, while Adesanya announced he would take a “long” break from mixed martial arts, Du Plessis would be able to fight The Last Stylebender’s conqueror. Whittaker expressed support for this bout, stressing Du Plessis deserves the shot. In an interview on the Submission Radio YouTube channel, the former UFC Middleweight Champion said:
It kind of cleared a lot of things up. The division is in a really crazy spot. There are so many fighters that are already busy or inactive or that are just sitting on the sidelines. With the win-losses that we’ve had in the Top 5, it’s just shuffled everything up. Then you have Chimaev and Usman coming in and fighting for a title shot allegedly, right?
To hear Dricus getting the title shot with Sean, I think it’s fair because he wasn’t in a lot of the talks for the next title shot with Sean. Where did that leave him? Props to him; he did beat me and I think that earns something.
Aside from believing that the Du Plessis-Strickland match is just rational, Whittaker expressed support for Du Plessis, suggesting the South African’s performance in their fight is the reason behind this belief.
“How can I doubt Dricus when he beat me last time?” Whittaker said.
Strickland and Du Plessis will face each other to fight for the middleweight title at UFC 297 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 20. Strickland boasts a record of 28-5-0, while Du Plessis holds a 20-2-0 record.
