- Robert Whittaker praised Dricus du Plessis for beating Sean Strickland at UFC 297
- “The Reaper” is planning to rematch “Stillknocks”
Robert Whittaker thinks everybody should respect Dricus du Plessis’ win over Sean Strickland at UFC 297.
Dricus deserves it
Speaking on MMArcade podcast, “The Reaper” got brutally honest about his thoughts on UFC 297’s main event. According to Whittaker, he doesn’t see Du Plessis’ split decision win over Strickland as controversial as “Stillknocks” did everything to outlast “Tarzan” from start to finish.
“I don’t know why it’s controversial. I’ve seen a lot of other fighters and Dana White himself saying he didn’t think he [Du Plessis] won the fight yada yada yada, but my opinion, I thought he won the fight. I will say, and I don’t like blurring the lines, but I will say congratulations to Dricus because he wanted it,” Whittaker said.
“I talked to a bunch of people and said that he’s a big, strong guy and he’s awkward as hell to fight, but one of his things is he goes out on his shield. He’s not going to go away. He’s not going to give up and he’ll leave the octagon on a stretcher and mate, that’s exactly what he showed. I will say congratulations to the new champ because he wanted it more,” he added. “… Let’s give a little props to Dricus cause he didn’t get away, he was throwin the overhands from the start to the literal finish.”
Whittaker wants a rematch
It can be recalled that Du Plessis finished Whittaker at UFC 290 via TKO in less than two rounds. It is yet to be known if they would ever cross paths once again as “The Reaper” is now slated against Paulo Costa at UFC 298. However, Whittaker said that a second showdown with “Stillknocks” is on his list.
“I thought personally he won the fight… I gave that to Strickland but I thought he took the other rounds. Now in my personal view, because he beat me before, and I want that rematch. I want to rematch him obviously, that’s not what I’m thinking about at the moment I want to fight Costa but Dricus is on the list of people I want to rematch. But seeing that fight from him, it made me realize that I did not prepare adequately for him. I did not give him the respect he deserves. I understand he was a hard and tough fighter but I don’t think I understood how tough and strong and hungry he really was and I won’t make that mistake again but I thought he won that fight,” Whittaker admitted.
On the other hand, Du Plessis, the new middleweight champ, has got his eyes locked on a potential title defense against Israel Adesanya, preferably at UFC 300. While everybody agrees that he narrowly dethroned Strickland, UFC president Dana White is not vouching for a rematch anytime soon.
Check out Whittaker’s full podcast below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcOPrW4lBUo
