Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker has revealed that he’s contemplating a move up to light-heavyweight next year.
“I wouldn’t go down – I can’t go down,” Whittaker said on his MMArcade podcast. “I’m still playing with the idea of going up to light heavy(weight). I’m a big dude – much bigger than people think I am.”
The 34-year-old Whittaker is coming off a first round submission defeat against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi back in October.
Prior to that he’d won back-to-back fights earlier in the year against Paulo Costa and Iskram Aliskerov, which had fuelled hopes of pushing his way back into title contention at 185lbs, but that’s now been derailed for the time being.
That being said, he’s still ranked No.4 in the weight class, so there is still good reason to stick around at 185lbs in the year to come, though it could be that he’s looking for a fresh challenge at this stage in his 15-year-long career.
Despite his talk of moving weight classes Whittaker did also say that he’s not a fan of champions pursuing the belt in other divisions, though he caveats that by admitting he might feel differently if he currently held a title.
“When champs go up or down, it stalls the division out so hard – so hard. Don’t get me wrong – I’d be doing the same thing. I’m no saint here. I care about my own agenda, as well.”
