Robert Whittaker gives his pick for Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland rematch

Prior to middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis‘ UFC 305 win over former two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya earlier this month, UFC CEO Dana White said former champ Sean Strickland would get the next title shot.  After all, Strickland had history with both.    

Du Plessis captured the middleweight championship by narrowly defeating Strickland at UFC 297 in January.  Strickland believes that he won the fight.  White said he scored the bout for Strickland during the UFC 297 Post-Fight Press Conference.

Strickland became champion by defeating Adesanya at UFC 293 last September.  Strickland knocked Adesanya down in the opening round and went on to win via unanimous decision.    

With du Plessis taking on Strickland next announced, former 185-pound champion Robert Whittaker weighed in on the matchup.  Du Plessis earned his title shot against Strickland by defeating Whittaker.    

“I think Dricus,” Whittaker told Submission Radio when asked who he thought would win the rematch.  “Dricus is a hard fight.  He just has that insane pressure and willingness to get hit to land hits.  He wins that fight a lot of the time.  He’s a hard fight for a lot of people.”

Whittaker plans to put himself in line to face the du Plessis and Strickland 2 winner when he takes on the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi.        

The two were scheduled to meet at UFC on ABC 6 on June 22 but Chimaev was forced out of the bout due to illness. Whittaker instead faced Ikram Aliskerov and won by knockout in less than two minutes.  Whittaker requested the fight with Chimaeav be rebooked.