Former Ultimate Fighting Championship champ Robert
Whittaker will be ready no matter who gets thrown at him in
Australia.
Back in October, the UFC confirmed the booking of Whittaker (24-6)
against Paulo Costa
(14-2) for UFC 284. The event will be held at the RAC Arena in
Perth, Australia, in what is a home game of sorts for Whittaker.
However, the middleweight matchup did not appear to be set in stone
when Costa revealed on his social media that he had not signed to
fight. Instead, he claimed he “politely” declined the multi-fight
contract that the promotion offered. While the pairing has not been
officially scrubbed, Whittaker and his team are already preparing
for the possibility of other foes. Sherdog spoke to Whittaker’s
coach, Alex Prates, about this situation on Thursday.
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“I see Costa using that fight to renegotiate his contract and I
truly hope he can do that, [as] what [is good for him] is good for
everybody,” coach Prates explained to Sherdog. “Now I see a great
possibility that he will not face Robert at UFC 284.”
According to Brazilian trainer, the team was not entirely sold on
the fight coming together since day one.
“We knew there was a big possibility that Costa and UFC did not
reach an agreement, but Robert never stopped trained,” Prates said.
“No matter who UFC will choose, if [it is] Costa, ‘Poatan’
[Alex
Pereira] or any other. [That person] will face the best
Whittaker on February 11.”
There has been no public movement towards a different adversary for
the former champ, one who has competed against most of the
division. With the dance cards of several prospective foes filling
up – including Marvin
Vettori fighting Roman
Dolidze
in March – and others such as Jared
Cannonier and Sean
Strickland likely competing too close in proximity to Feb. 11,
options are notably limited. Whittaker, who is coming off a
September victory against the aforementioned Vettori, is not ruling
out the chance of playing host in Australia to the newly crowned
titleholder, however unlikely.
“We know how hard it is [for] ‘Poatan’ to cut weight and reach
middleweight division,” the coach noted. “He just passed through
that hard process, so I don’t believe he would do that again in
such a short time. But as I said, no matter who will come,
Whittaker will be ready.”