- Robert Whittaker reacted to UFC 305
- “The Reaper” sees Dricus du Plessis as a dangerous matchup for Alex Pereira
- The former middleweight champ weighed in on DDP vs. Sean Strickland’s potential rematch
Robert Whittaker shared his thoughts on Dricus du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya, why “Stillknocks” is a bad matchup for Alex Pereira and why DDP would still get the better of Sean Strickland in a rematch.
UFC 305 reaction
Speaking to Submission Radio, “The Reaper” gave his candid reaction to UFC 305’s main event. According to Whittaker, Izzy did a great job against Du Plessis but the only way to stop the reigning champ is through a finish. Because if not, then “Stillknocks” will find his way to the W.
“Yeah, I thought Adesanya looked spectacular. I thought this was probably the best version we saw of him. He was very effective. He looked in his groove. He was landing big shots,” Whittaker analyzed. “But man, DDP is one of those guys that if you don’t kill him, he’s going to win the fight. You got to really take the fight to him for 25 minutes. And if you if you give him any space, if you give him any opportunity to crawl back in, he just keeps coming.”
DDP might hurt Alex
When asked to comment about the brewing potential showdown between Du Plessis and Pereira, Whittaker said it might not be a good idea, especially for “Poatan.” As per “The Reaper,” Du Plessis could hurt Pereira and it wouldn’t help that the Brazilian is easy to hit.
“Honestly, I don’t think that’s a good fight for him (Pereira). I don’t think that’s a good fight for him. When you move up to light heavyweight, moving back down is tricky. It’s not like you move up for one fight. He’s stayed up there. He’s been fighting up there for a while now, so it would take a lot out of him to get down. And Dricus is so strong there,” Whittaker assessed.
“Alex gets hit, and Dricus likes getting hit,” he pointed out. “It’s hard to see someone with the amount of power to stop Dricus from walking forward into you. Dricus hits hard. You saw that in the fight with Adesanya. Adesanya has like a really good chin. Dricus was still hurting him enough to make him uncomfortable.”
DDP vs. Strickland 2 will end up in an ‘And still…’
As the No. 1 middleweight contender, Strickland is currently the favorite to get the next title shot. Revealing his early prediction of the rematch between Du Plessis and “Tarzan,” Whittaker thinks “Stillknocks” will still get his hand raise.
“I think Dricus still, like Dricus is a hard fight,” the former middleweight champion predicted. “He just has that insane pressure and willingness to get hit, to land hits and he wins that fight a lot of the time. He’s a hard fight for a lot of people.”
Whittaker lost to Du Plessis via TKO last year at UFC 290. Though Strickland is likely to be his next challenger, DDP believes “The Reaper” is the most deserving of a title shot among the top middleweight contenders.
Watch Whittaker’s full interview below:
