Robert John Whittaker (born 20 December 1990) is an Australian professional mixed martial artist fighting out of Menai, Sydney. He is currently signed to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he competes in their middleweight division and is the reigning champion. A professional MMA competitor since 2009, Whittaker was a contestant on the first series of The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes and won the welterweight tournament. Whittaker was previously interim middleweight champion after winning the title at UFC 213, but was promoted to undisputed champion after Georges St-Pierre forfeited the UFC Middleweight Championship in 2017 due to illness.
Video Robert Whittaker (fighter)
Background
Whittaker was born in Middlemore Hospital of Auckland. He moved to Melbourne, Australia with his parents when he was only a month old. Whittaker's father enrolled Robert, aged six, and his brother in a Goju-ryu Karate school, to encourage them in self-discipline and self-defence. After training in the discipline for a little over eight years, and earning his black belt, his father offered him the chance to change to other sport or drop Karate entirely. While his brother decided to drop out, Robert chose to switch to a Hapkido gym run by Henry Perez, following his move to Menai. Not long afterwards, Perez transformed his gym into a MMA gym. Having no other choice, Whittaker began training in MMA and was immediately hooked, choosing MMA as his preferred sport over Rugby League. Whittaker was a brick layer prior to becoming a professional MMA fighter.
Whittaker prefers not engage in trash-talk outside of the octagon. As he puts it:
Maps Robert Whittaker (fighter)
Mixed martial arts career
Early career
In 2009 Whittaker began competing in MMA as a professional. He signed with Australia's Xtreme Fighting Championships and made his debut 14 March 2009 against fellow pro debutant Chris Tallowin. Whittaker won the fight via TKO in the first round. Whittaker continued his career with Cage Fighting Championships, going 6-0 inside the promotion from 2009 to 2011, with a notable win over fellow TUF: Smashes cast member, Ben Alloway.
On 30 October 2011 Whittaker lost his first fight when he travelled to Cotai, Macau for Legend Fighting Championships 6: he fought Hoon Kim and lost via submission in the first round. Whittaker bounced back from the loss and won two consecutive bouts before suffering his second loss to Jesse Juarez, which brought his overall record to 9-2.
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighter
In 2012 Whittaker's coach, Henry Perez, put him forward for the first series of The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes, which pitted a team of eight Australians against a team of eight men from the United Kingdom, and he was selected as one of the cast members.
In his first fight on the show Whittaker fought Luke Newman. Only 19 seconds into the first round Whittaker landed a punch flush on the chin of Newman, knocking him unconscious for several minutes. The win moved him onto the semifinal round. The knockout also earned Whittaker an additional $25,000 for "Knockout of the Season".
In the semifinal, Whittaker was matched against replacement fighter and fellow Team Australia teammate, Xavier Lucas. Whittaker won via knockout at 1:17 in the first round. The win moved Whittaker into the final round of the competition, which would take place live on UFC on FX: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson.
Early UFC fights
Whittaker made his UFC debut on 15 December 2012 at UFC on FX 6, which was also known as "The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes Finale". He would fight Brad Scott to determine the welterweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes. Whittaker won the fight via unanimous decision to become the first ever winner of The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes alongside Norman Parke, who was the lightweight winner of the show.
Whittaker faced Colton Smith on 25 May 2013 at UFC 160. He won the fight by TKO in the third round.
Whittaker faced Court McGee on 28 August 2013 at UFC Fight Night 27. He lost the fight via split decision.
Whittaker was expected to face Brian Melancon on 7 December 2013 at UFC Fight Night 33. However, Melancon pulled out of the bout citing an injury and subsequently retired. As a result, Whittaker was removed from the card as well.
Whittaker faced Stephen Thompson on 22 February 2014 at UFC 170. He lost the fight via TKO in the first round. In the three years following his loss to Thompson, Whittaker won 6 fights in a row prior to earning his fight against Yoel Romero. He said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald:
Whittaker faced Mike Rhodes on 28 June 2014 at UFC Fight Night 43. He won the fight via unanimous decision.
Move to middleweight
Whittaker faced Clint Hester in a middleweight bout on 8 November 2014 at UFC Fight Night 55. He won the exciting back and forth fight via TKO in the second round. The win also earned Whittaker his first Fight of the Night bonus award.
Whittaker faced Brad Tavares on 10 May 2015 at UFC Fight Night 65. He won the fight via knockout in the first round. The win also earned Whittaker his first Performance of the Night bonus award.
Whittaker was expected to face Michael Bisping on 15 November 2015 at UFC 193. However, Bisping pulled out of the fight on the 30th of September, citing an elbow injury, and was replaced by Uriah Hall. Whittaker defeated Hall by unanimous decision.
Whittaker next faced Rafael Natal on 23 April 2016 at UFC 197. Whittaker won the back and forth fight via unanimous decision.
Whittaker faced Derek Brunson on 27 November 2016 at UFC Fight Night 101. He won the back and forth fight via first-round TKO. The win also earned him the Performance of the Night and the Fight of the Night bonus awards.
Whittaker faced Ronaldo Souza on 15 April 2017 at UFC on Fox 24. He won by second-round TKO and in the process became the first person to finish Souza since 2008. The win also earned Whittaker his third Performance of the Night bonus award.
UFC Middleweight Championship
Whittaker fought for the interim middleweight title against Yoel Romero on 8 July 2017 at UFC 213, after Michael Bisping announced a nagging knee injury which would go on to keep him on the sidelines for several months. Whittaker won by unanimous decision, and became the first Australian and first New Zealand born fighter to hold a UFC title. He missed the remainder of 2017, as he was recovering from a medial knee injury to his left leg.
On 7 December 2017, then middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre vacated the title after being diagnosed with colitis. As a result, Whittaker was promoted to the undisputed champion. He was slated for his first title defence at UFC 221 against former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold on February 10, 2018 at Perth Arena in Australia. On 13 January 2018, it was reported that Whittaker pulled out from the event due to an undisclosed injury and he will be replaced by Yoel Romero for the interim middleweight championship. The winner of this bout will then face Whittaker in a unification bout. On 20 January 2018, Dana White confirmed that Whittaker was in serious condition after he was not properly treated from a staph infection in his stomach.
A rematch with Romero is expected to take place on 9 June 2018 at UFC 225.
Amateur wrestling career
Whittaker began competing in amateur freestyle wrestling tournaments in 2015 when he unexpectedly turned up to compete in the Australia Cup in Canberra. He won each of his three bouts. It was also at the 2015 Australia Cup that Whittaker flagged the possibility of potentially representing Australia in Olympic or Commonwealth wrestling competitions. He returned to the wrestling mat in May 2017 and claimed the Australian National Wrestling Championships gold medal in the 97 kg (213 lbs) division. After winning the national championship, Whittaker entered Australia's 2018 Commonwealth Games 97 kg qualifying tournament in November 2017. He would once again claim first place in his division and in doing so qualified to represent Australia in the wrestling at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, the city in which he made his UFC debut. Following his qualification, Whittaker made it clear he would only compete in the Commonwealth Games if the event did not interfere with his UFC commitments. It was confirmed in March 2018 that Whittaker would be one of eight Australians to compete in the Commonwealth Games wrestling competition.
Championships and accomplishments
Mixed martial arts
- Ultimate Fighting Championship
- UFC Middleweight Championship (one time, current)
- Interim UFC Middleweight Championship (one time)
- The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes Welterweight Tournament Winner
- The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes Knockout of the Season
- Fight of the Night (three times) vs. Clint Hester, Derek Brunson, Yoel Romero
- Performance of the Night (three times) vs. Brad Tavares, Derek Brunson, Ronaldo Souza
- Superfight Australia
- Superfight Australia Welterweight Championship (one time)
- MMA Mania.com
- UFC/MMA 'Fighter of the Year' 2017 - Top 5 List #2
- Sherdog
- 2017 Fighter of the Year
- MMA DNA.nl
- 2017 Fighter of the Year
Amateur wrestling
- Australia Cup
- Winner - 97 kg (2015)
- Australian National Wrestling Championships
- Gold medal - 97 kg (2017)
- Commonwealth Games
- Qualified - 97 kg (2018)
Personal life
Whittaker and his wife Sofia have two boys, John and Jack.
Representing both Australia and New Zealand
Whittaker was born in New Zealand and moved to Australia when he was one month old. When asked about his nationality in an interview with the Australian TV programme "The Project", he declared that he had an Australian passport but added that he felt as if he represented both countries as an MMA fighter.
His interview with GQ Australia, he stated:
Youth clinics for community service
Whittaker has held clinics for youths in his spare time at his home gym, Gracie jiu-jitsu at Smeaton Grange, and also visited several remote Australian Indigenous youth communities at inland New South Wales. Through this community service he hopes to inspire the younger generation to take up combat sports by being a good role model to them.
Mixed martial arts record
See also
- List of current UFC fighters
- List of male mixed martial artists
References
External links
- "Robert Whittaker". UFC.com.
- Professional MMA record for Robert Whittaker from Sherdog
Source of article : Wikipedia
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