Robert Whittaker Talks Fan Backlash After Vettori Fight Pullout

Former UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker received a ton of backlash from fans for pulling out of his scheduled fight with Marvin Vettori.

Whittaker was slated to face Vettori at UFC 275 on June 11. However, Whittaker suffered an injury during training camp that forced him to withdraw from the contest. During an appearance on Submission Radio recently, Whittaker revealed that he actually received some backlash from fans for pulling out.

“They were just hammering me. It’s like, mate, the thing is, and trust me, I was kept up at night tossing and turning knowing I had to make a decision. Like, it was killing me. Honestly, it’s been a rough and stressful period, trying to work out this injury, and still prepare for the fight and everything.

“And then live with the idea, that hey, the doctors don’t think I’m going to be ready for this fight. And yeah, it was just stressful. It was stressful, and it was a pain. But what’s sunk with me is that, let’s say I go into the fight half-cooked and I lose, no one’s going to care for my excuses.

“No one. I can’t come out afterwards and be like, ‘yeah, but I had this injury’. No one’s going to give a crap. All they’re going to care about is that I lost. And yeah, I don’t want to live with myself knowing that I could have done better.

“So, I’m going to do things the right way, and I just need a little bit more time, heal up, get back in to do a full camp, and then take it to him.”

Whittaker has only lost two fights at middleweight in the UFC. Those losses came to current champion Israel Adesanya. “Stylebender” finished Whittaker in their first meeting back in October of 2019. They rematched this past February after a three-fight wins streak for “The Reaper,” which got him back into the title picture.

After a close contest, Adesnaya squeaked out the decision win. As for Vettori, he has also been a force to be reckoned with at 185 pounds. Vettori was on a five-fight win streak before landing a title opportunity against Adesanya in June of 2021. Interestingly enough, the last man to defeat Vettori to that point was Adesanya, as the pair first fought in April of 2018.

Vettori lost the championship bout via unanimous decision. The pairing of Vettori and Whittaker was a perfect matchup for both men to get back into title contention, however, with Whittaker’s injury forcing him to the sidelines, Vettori will have to wait for a new opponent.

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