Dana White’s Silence on UFC 298 Fight Signals Trouble for Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa, Claims MMA Vet

UFC 298 will witness two of the best middleweight fighters take on each other when Robert Whittaker takes on Paulo Costa next. Whittaker is coming into the fight after suffering a massive defeat against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290. Costa, on the other hand, is finally turning up for a fight after canceling many fights in the past.

Before their much-awaited clash, Chael Sonnen recently took to his YouTube channel to analyze the fight. During the video, the former UFC fighter pointed out why the fight is not scheduled as the number one contender fight. Let us delve into the details to find out what the 46-year-old had to say.

Chael Sonnen shares his concern regarding the fight at UFC 298

Robert Whittaker is the #4 ranked middleweight fighter in the division and the former interim champion. The 33-year-old lost his title to Israel Adesanya at UFC 271 and since then has been struggling to get back to form. His fight against “Borrachinha” is of huge importance, as a win would get him back on track for the title shot. However, there is no such announcement made by the UFC CEO, Dana White, regarding the fight. This has surprised the former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen, and he recently shared his views on the whole.

Sonnen said: ” So why wouldn’t it go to Paulo Costa? And there’s something about Paulo in his schedule. There’s something about him missing. Darren Till named him something. It was the king of the pullout and Darren admitted he goes. I was the king of the Pull out, but he’s now beaten me. I only say like there’s something about that, that has made Paulo kind of humble. That’s made him not call forward or possibly he recognizes that Chimaev already fought for a number one contender match and until he gets the opportunity. It’s one of those situations where Paulo Costa, in a normal circumstance, would have spoken up and would have declared. But he hasn’t and Whittaker hasn’t and therefore Dana White hasn’t declared this a number one contender’s match. 

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Although the fight is not declared as a contender fight, the pair would like to put up a show for their fans. Whittaker, 33 is coming off two back-to-back losses and is hungry to win the belt back again. “The Reaper” before his clash finally shared his thoughts regarding his long-time opponent, Israel Adesanya.

Robert Whittaker opens up about his rivalry with Israel Adesanya

Israel Adesanya, the former middleweight champion, defeated  “The Reaper” twice in his career. The pair first met at UFC 243 and “The Last Stylebender” put up a show by beating him in the second round to reclaim his title. Their next fight was scheduled at UFC 271 and this time the 33-year-old put up a good show. Adesanya won the fight via decision, thus taking his tally to 2-0 against Whittaker. Before his fight at UFC 298, the former interim champion was asked whether he would face Adesanya for the third time in his career.

He cleared that he would focus on the trilogy after beating Costa and said: “There’s a good rivalry [with Adesanya] there but there’s no bad blood. Honestly, I’m just focusing on beating Costa. I beat Costa, honestly, the world is my oyster that kind of thing and [then I] can kind of go any which way. So my focus is on just coming back to form, beat Costa and then I’ll have a look at things then.” With UFC 298 just around the corner, who do you feel will win the fight in the middleweight division? Let us know in the comments below.

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