Robert Whittaker is eying a return to competition after his loss to rising superstar Khamzat Chimaev last October.
Whittaker suffered a brutal jaw injury in that contest and has been on the shelf ever since.
On a recent episode of Fight Week, the 34-year-old revealed that after seeing multiple Australian’s booked in championship fights this year, he is more ready than ever to make his comeback into the title picture.
“Especially after seeing Volk win the title back. There is nothing more inspiring than seeing him win his title back,” he said.
“I’m in that trajectory of heading back to the title. Of walking back, and making my way to get the gold.”
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A fight in June was floated to the former middleweight champion, however, given some recent scheduling issues that have taken place in the promotion, a date in that window never materialised.
“I’ve been in conversations with UFC since the beginning of the year. Trying to pick a date. I wanted late June, but the UFC is really fluid at the moment,” he said.
“The end of June is a bit too soon now for them to put me on something,”
“There are a lot of cards being pushed around, a lot of fights getting moved around. So mate, they honestly haven’t locked me in for anything just yet,”
“Most likely looking for July, but just got to sit and wait.”
In a reply to a comment on a recent Instagram post, Whittaker teased that an announcement for his next fight was imminent.
“Fight news coming soon,” he said.
When will Whittaker fight next?
When looking ahead to the UFC cards currently on the books, Whittaker has multiple options that fit his timeline.
UFC 318 takes place on July 19 from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. This card is headlined by Dustin Poirier, who is making his return home to Louisiana and retiring against Max Holloway.
Whittaker has featured on 12 pay-per-view’s in his professional career, so it would be a suitable stage for his brand within the company.
The other announced card for that month is a fight night from the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
This would be a return to the scene of his last fight, and an opportunity to re-write what was an unsuccessful last outing for ‘The Reaper’.
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Who will Whittaker fight next?
In his appearance on Fight Week, Whittaker proposed a clash with former champion Sean Strickland as an option for his next fight.
“I wanted to fight Strickland just because I thought it made sense,” he said.
Strickland is currently ranked number two at middleweight and is coming off a loss of his own.
However, in typical Whittaker fashion, he made it clear that he would fight anybody that the division had to offer.
“They [UFC] threw names at me and I said yes to every single one of them,” he said.
Another opponent which makes sense for ‘The Reaper’ is number eight ranked Roman Dolidze.
Dolidze is currently riding a three-fight win streak and will be looking to make a jump up into the top-five of the weight category against an established star.
Known by his fighting nickname as ‘The Caucasian’, Dolidze’s Georgian heritage would suggest that a fight in the Middle East in July, could make sense geographically, making him an ideal opponent for Whittaker.
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