‘They’re Very Different Opponents’- Robert Whittaker Reacts to Change in Opponent

The UFC has a lot of fighters, and naturally, they are a unique set of athletes. The former middleweight champion of the world, Robert Whittaker, is one of the better ones.

He lost his title to the greatest middleweight that the sport ever saw in Israel Adesanya in 2019. After that defeat, he bounced back to win fights against Jared Cannonier and Darren Till.

As a result of that amazing form, he was set to fight Paulo Costa, who himself lost to Adesanya, losing his unbeaten record.

However, fate would intervene, and Costa had to withdraw from the fight after he got stuck with a severe case of the flu. Luckily, Kelvin Gastelum stepped in to fight Whittaker on short notice for a fight on 17th April.

The Australian talked to the media after the change and revealed his thoughts on the situation. “My OCD flared up, to begin with, and I was very upset, but I got over it pretty quickly,” Whittaker said in an interview with ESPN MMA.

“Fortunately, me and Kelvin were scheduled to fight a couple (of) years back, and I’ve done work for him. I’ve had a lot of work with southpaws and for southpaws in the last few years, so making the adjustment in the switch wasn’t too hard,” he said.

Robert Whittaker ready to roll with anything that happens

Whittaker also talked about the difference between both of the fighters. Costa is someone who favors striking and has subpar wrestling skills. Gastelum, on the other hand, is primarily a wrestler.

“They’re very different opponents. One’s a southpaw, one’s an orthodox, and they’re very different body types, but sometimes you just gotta roll with it,” he concluded.

Gastelum has some momentum on his side after he beat Ian Heinisch in February. However, he has lost 4 of his last 7 fights and needs to win this to plan a charge for the title. It will be an interesting fight. A classic striker versus grappler match-up, don’t take your eyes off of this one.

Do you think Kelvin Gastelum can beat Robert Whittaker?

READ MORE- Every Tattoo On Israel Adesanya and The Stories Behind Them