Sean Strickland is set to make his first UFC middleweight title defense at UFC 297 on January 20, 2024. He will be taking on a formidable force in Dricus du Plessis. Recently, Robert Whittaker, who was finished by Dricus, revealed his predictions for this match.
UFC middleweight legend Robert Whittaker recently talked about the main event of UFC 297 on his MMArcade podcast. He expressed his interest in the fight; however, his prediction for the fight would shock a lot of MMA fans. “Top of my head, I would have to say, Sean pieces him up five rounds, wins by decision,” said Whittaker.
While Robert Whittaker chose Strickland to win the match, he is not counting his former opponent, Dricus, out of the fight. “Dricus is awkward and he’s unorthodox…He’s gonna come into this fight ready for the dog fight,” said ‘The Reaper’. Furthermore, the No. 3 ranked Middleweight praised Dricus’ ability to maintain distance and throw high-volume strikes at his opponents.
Whittaker closed the discussion by claiming that Sean Strickland would be the safer pick, but Dricus du Plessis has the ability to shock the fans. Furthermore, the Middleweight legend claimed that Dricus surprised him during their fight at UFC 290.
Robert Whittaker responds to Brendan Allen’s callout
Brendan Allen made a statement with his recent performance against Paul Craig at UFC Vegas 82. The No. 8-ranked Allen submitted Craig via rear-naked choke in the third round of their fight. After the fight, he decided to call out top middleweight contenders like Robert Whittaker, Khamzat Chimaev, and Jared Cannonier.
During his MMArcade podcast, ‘The Reaper’ decided to respond to Brendan Allen’s callout. “I’m pretty sure he said he wants to fight a contender, he wants to fight me or Cannonier,” said Whittaker. Furthermore, he dismissed the callout by saying that he’s not a matchmaker.
Robert Whittaker responds to callout from UFC Vegas 82 winner Brendan Allen 😅 #MMA #UFCVegas82https://t.co/NA3GwXN0gg
— bjpenndotcom (@bjpenndotcom) November 22, 2023
Furthermore, ‘The Reaper’ claimed that Paul Craig wasn’t even a top-10 middleweight and Allen still needed to fight some other middleweights before calling out the top 5 guys. “Just do your work…The matchmakers are there,” said Whittaker. He even claimed that he does not care about who Brendan Allen fights next.
Wellll mr @robwhittakermma feel free to show me what those top guys are like. I always wanted a former champ/future HOF on my resume https://t.co/OGTQIgOQZo
— Brendan Allen (@BrendanAllenMMA) November 22, 2023
However, this did not stop ‘All In’ from calling out Whittaker once again via social media. Allen challenged Whittaker in a very respectful way. “Wellll mr @robwhittakermma feel free to show me what those top guys are like,” wrote Allen. Furthermore, he went on to call Robert a future Hall of Famer.
Will Rober Whittaker respond to Brendan Allen again to make the fight official? Let us know in the comments section.
