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.
“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.”
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