Robert Whittaker wants to fight Kamaru Usman

Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker is eyeing a fight with former welterweight titleholder Kamaru Usman for early next year.  

“Definitely the Usman fight interests me, because I just think we’re both guys at the top of the food chain, and I want to give him a proper welcome to the middleweight division, right? I just, I like that fight. He’s one of the best welterweights to do it, and I think fighting fights of that caliber just make me excited. It makes me excited, and it’s a face I haven’t fought before. It’s exciting, It’s different. And the goal to get to the gold, to get back to that that title shot, I don’t think it’s as complicated as many people make it out to be,” Whittaker told Submission Radio.

“I think I just need to win several fights in a row. Like, just win fights and that’s kind of where you end up regardless, right? And I think my biggest concern, my biggest primary objective right now is to make sure that my next fight is on a big card with a big name. I want a fight – and it’s not about the prize fights or the cash. No. I want a good fight, that’s filled with honor, that people will want to tune in to, that’ll be a hard fight and honorable fight, and we get it done and that pushes me closer to my objective, which is fighting for that title.”

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“So does Khamzat. It’s about more about fitting timelines and moving towards that goal. Getting a title fight isn’t tricky. It’s just about winning fights. If you’re winning fights consecutively, you’re going to get a title shot sooner or later. And fighting big names obviously helps that.”

Whittaker would like to fight in February or March, after the birth of his fifth child.  

“My timeline is roughly February, March. I’d like that. I’d like to fight. I was looking to fight later this year. Earlier than today. But we just couldn’t play matchmaker, we couldn’t find the right card to be on. We couldn’t work things out. So, my next priority is to be here for the birth of my daughter, and then to take a fight in February or March to try and pay for that,” he said.

Whittaker is coming off a loss to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290 in July.  Whittaker’s not far from a title shot.  The fight with du Plessis was a title eliminator bout.  He’s ranked third in the division and a few wins away.