Sean Strickland has shut down talk that he could fight Robert Whittaker next, insisting that he wants to wait for another shot at the middleweight title instead.
“Keep getting asked to fight Whittaker,” Strickland wrote on X. “I beat Izzy, the world knows I beat Dricus. Whittaker lost to both.
“I am the number 1 contender, I defended that spot easily against Costa. I will wait…..”
Strickland’s stance on the matter makes sense, particularly given that the upcoming middleweight title fight between Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya isn’t too far away, having recently been announced as the main event for UFC 305 in Perth, Australia on August 17th.
Regardless of who wins that fight Strickland has not only No.1 contender status on his side, but also an ongoing storyline with whoever wins to help fuel a rematch as his previous title loss to du Plessis only came via split-decision, while his win over Adesanya was one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport.
Meanwhile the path isn’t as clear for the No.3 ranked Whittaker as he was TKO’d by du Plessis a year ago and has been beaten twice by Adesanya in the past.
That being said though, while the timing might not be right at the moment, it is getting to the stage where both Strickland and Whittaker have fought just about everybody else worth fighting in the division, so it seems likely they will fight each other eventually.
