After a long break, Robert Whittaker will return to action against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290 in July. UFC President Dana White announced the bout earlier this month and added that it would have huge title implications. According to White, the winner would face Israel Adesanya for the title in Australia, later this year.

The middleweight matchup was a surprise for many, as they expected Du Plessis to face Adesanya for the title next. The two middleweights had been going at each other publicly over their African heritage for a while now. Therefore, many fans and pros, including retired UFC star Chael Sonnen, were surprised that the UFC is feeding Du Plessis to ‘The Reaper.’

Sonnen recently talked about the upcoming bout on his YouTube channel. In classic Sonnen style, he addressed the fight, and the fighters involved. In fact, he went as far as to make some bold claims about the high-stakes bout. The former middleweight and light heavyweight title challenger also showed enormous respect for Robert Whittaker.

Chael Sonnen on Robert Whittaker vs Dricus Du Plessis

In his video, Sonnen admitted that the Robert Whittaker vs. Dricus Du Plessis fight news caught him by surprise. He also gave a few interesting takes on the intricacies of this fight and made a few predictions.

The 46-year-old said, “When you’re putting Whittaker vs. Du Plessis, it would seem as though you’re shining up Du Plessis but there’s no guarantee that he’s going to win. As a matter of fact, I will predict for you… I will very comfortably predict for you that he’s going to be the underdog.”

Sonnen also had high praise for the former champion Whittaker. He made a bold claim, comparing him to the current champion, Adesanya. “Robert Whittaker is as good as they come. He is as good as any middleweight to have ever done it,” said Sonnen.

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He continued, “In many ways, I feel like Robert Whittaker is better than Israel Adesanya. That’s how good I think he is.”

The fact that Adesanya is 2-0 up against Whittaker contradicts Sonnen’s claim. However, ‘Bobby Knuckles’ has not lost to anyone not named Adesanya in the middleweight division. It also means that Whittaker had to take the long road to another title shot against ‘Stylebender.’

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The Australian is gladly undertaking the task with his sight set on the title and on July 8 fans and pros will find out if ‘The Reaper’ will add Du Plessis to his list.