Aussie UFC star Robert Whittaker is serious about moving up to light heavyweight permanently

Australian UFC star Robert Whittaker has revealed that he is thinking seriously about moving up to the light heavyweight division despite fears the leap could put an end to his great run of success in the octagon.

The 31-year-old is currently the No. 1 contender in the UFC’s middleweight division – but has been known to change weight classes. 

Whittaker entered the UFC as a welterweight in 2012 when he won ‘The Ultimate Fighter: Australia vs. UK’ – and it was at this weight that ‘Bobby Knuckles’ would compete five times, before moving up to middleweight in 2014.

Whittaker, who moved up from the welterweight weight class in 2014, says if he moved up to light heavyweight it’d be a permanent switch

The change was the right move for the Sydneysider who won eight bouts in a row and the coveted UFC middleweight belt. 

With the success Whittaker has had in the past, it’s not surprising he’s giving thought to another move.

‘I’ve been thinking about 205 [light heavyweight] a fair bit. The problem is, I wouldn’t go to 205 to come back down to 185,’ Whittaker told Submission Radio on Monday.

‘Just because I don’t want to go to 205 as a fat 185, right? You see a lot of guys try that and they just get starched. And then they come back down. It doesn’t make sense.

‘So when I moved up to 185 the first time, there was no way, like, I would never go back down to 170.’ 

Whittaker’s immediate goal is to reclaim the belt at middleweight after losing a close fight to Israel Adesanya in February 2022 

‘Got to put on muscle, you have to train at that weight. Got to do all of the bits and bobs then and there. I think it will be a more natural weight for me, personally, but the height disadvantage is annoying. I don’t know if I would want to deal with that.’

Whittaker’s immediate goal is redemption in his current weight class after losing to current middleweight king Israel Adesanya in February 2022 – a fight which he and many fans thought he won.

‘My goal is obviously to get that fight with Israel, to try and get that belt back, especially with the way our second fight concluded,’ Whittaker told Daily Mail Australia.

‘The plan is simple: to beat everyone in front of me and eventually they will run out of people and he will have to fight me. I feel like it is inevitable, if we stay the course.’

Whittaker says he is not going to stop until he gets his title back

Adesanya isn’t excited by a third fight with Whittaker and has implored him to cut his loses and move up to light heavyweight.

‘Of course he wants me to get out of there,’ Whittaker said. ‘I am the most dangerous person in the division and I threaten everyone. No one is safe [from me] in this division.

‘I am the hunter and I want it. He saw after that last fight that I wanted it, I am coming for it, I am not going to stop until I get it and it’s scary.’

The Aussie striker knows that when he does decide to make the move up in weight, it’ll be permanent. 

Robert Whittaker is ready to launch another climb towards the UFC middleweight summit. He fights Marvin Vettori this weekend at UFC Fight Night 209

‘Once I make the decision to go up to 205, I’m there. That’ll be my division. I’d finish my career there, for better or worse. I’m doing really well at 185. I’m definitely one of the most dangerous guys in the division.’

Whittaker returns to action this weekend at UFC Fight Night 209 to face tough Italian Marvin Vettori.