Robert Whittaker thinks it’ll be ‘And Still’ on Saturday night time.
Emanating from the acquainted confines of T-Cellular Area in Las Vegas, UFC 313 will function a light-weight heavyweight championship headliner as Alex Pereira places his gold on the road in opposition to the division’s top-ranked contender Magomed Ankalaev.
Unbeaten in his final 13 fights, Ankalaev is taken into account to be Pereira’s hardest take a look at but contained in the Octagon. Nonetheless, ‘The Repaer’ thinks ‘Poatan’ will maintain enterprise and depart ‘Sin City’ together with his title intact. Nicely, as long as Ankalaev doesn’t do one thing silly like making an attempt to face and commerce with the Brazilian boogeyman.
“I’m gonna go Pereira,” Whittaker mentioned on the MMArcade podcast. “Like I mentioned, if Ankalaev doesn’t drop stage with him inside like the primary three minutes, I don’t suppose he makes it out of the primary spherical. I don’t need to be hanging with that man, interval. He hits like a truck. He’s very comfy and assured standing. So, yeah, you must get him on his again in that first spherical.
“Pereira brings a definitive X element into the game.”
What’s subsequent for Robert Whittaker?
As for Whittaker himself, the previous middleweight titleholder has not but booked a return to the Octagon since struggling a quick-fire submission loss in opposition to Khamzat Chimaev in October.
But when ‘The Reaper’ will get his want, he’ll go toe-to-toe with one other ex-champion this summer time.
“I think Strickland makes a good argument to have because I feel like we’ve both been in that top sort of pond for a while circling each other,” Whittaker mentioned on the On Paper podcast with Anthony Smith. “For no matter purpose, we haven’t been matched up however we’ve each been in proximity for some time.
“It’s most likely the fight to make, I’m excited about that fight. I look at his style and I find it curious. I find it exciting to try to work out. I’ve just been working on some things, working on some new skillsets but I want to come back this year in June. That’s when I want to put my hand up to fight because it gives me a good amount of time to just continue doing what I’m doing but also ease into a camp.”
Each Whittaker and Strickland are coming off losses after ‘Tarzan’ suffered a lopsided defeat by the hands of present 185-pound titleholder Drucis Du Plessis at UFC 312.
