Robert Whittaker thinks Sean Strickland doesn’t win rounds convincingly enough.
Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) defeated Paulo Costa by split decision in this past Saturday’s UFC 302 co-main event – a result UFC CEO was dumbfounded wasn’t unanimous after judge Dave Tirelli scored it in favor of Costa (14-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC).
Whittaker was critical of Strickland, pointing to his fighting style as the reason why he’s been involved in back-to-back split decisions.
“He leaves it too close. Every round is too close, and that’s why you lose some decisions you’re confident in winning,” Whittaker said on his MMArcade podcast. “That’s why you can inch out wins sometimes and that’s why you inch out losses sometimes because you don’t define the rounds enough, you don’t do enough to make yourself the obvious winner of the round.
“I don’t think he’s trying to do that. I think that’s just his fight style. His fight style looks annoying as hell, dude. He looks like a kid when a brother and sister are like, ‘I’m walking forward and if you walk into it, it’s your own fault’ sort of thing.”
Whittaker takes on Khamzat Chimaev June 22 at UFC on ABC 6 in what is being dubbed as a No. 1 contender bout. Regardless of how Strickland vs. Costa panned out, Whittaker thinks the winner of his fight should get the next title shot.
“It wasn’t a very exciting fight – the crowd were booing it at stages,” Whittaker said. “Sean was just kind of pressuring forward the whole time and Costa was on skates the entire time. … I would like to think we’re fighting for that spot regardless, but where does Sean go from here?”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 302.