After his fast end of Ikram Aliskerov in Riyadh, Robert Whittaker is hoping to land a spot on the UFC’s upcoming card in Perth.
Lurking within the shadows of the middleweight prime 10 for the previous few years, Whittaker made a reasonably large assertion inside Kingdom Area, dispatching one of many division’s most fun prospects in lower than two minutes and instantly thrusting himself again into title talks.
Having suffered little to no harm, ‘The Reaper’ is seeking to make a fast turnaround by both competing at UFC 305 on August 17 in The Land Down Beneath or serving as a backup for the occasion’s huge middleweight headliner between reigning champion Dricus Du Plessis and former two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya.
Nonetheless, earlier than any of that may occur, Whittaker should care for a lingering subject that popped up proper earlier than he made his solution to Saudi Arabia.
“Rob has a extremely dangerous abscess that flared up every week earlier than flying out,” Whittaker’s supervisor Titus Day informed Fox Sports activities Australia. “He had complications, tooth ache, it was like he’d been kicked within the aspect of the pinnacle. He couldn’t prepare, couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. It was f*cking painful.
“The entire aspect of his head was in ache so we needed to rush him in for emergency surgical procedure” (h/t MMA Combating).
Robert Whittaker gained’t decide to UFC 305 return till present process extra surgical procedure
Thankfully, the post-surgery swelling subsided sufficient for him to step contained in the Octagon on Saturday night time and ship one other highlight-reel-worthy efficiency. With extra surgical procedure scheduled to be carried out throughout the subsequent few weeks, Whittaker and his group are in wait-and-see mode earlier than making any additional commitments to the UFC.
“Proper now, concerning Perth, it’s simply too early to say,” Day mentioned. “Clearly there was plenty of speak on the night time about Rob being the backup for that UFC 305 predominant occasion. There was additionally speak about him preventing any individual else, too. And doubtlessly, he might nonetheless do both of these. He’ll have to fulfill with the group and speak it via.”
Whittaker has now gained 4 of his final six fights, his two losses coming in opposition to the boys who will headline UFC 305 later this 12 months.
