“The size of the fella” – Robert Whittaker left stunned by the enormous stature of Alex Pereira amid hopes of a title showdown
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Robert Whittaker (L), Alex Pereira (R)
Alex Pereira just shocked the world after gaining middleweight gold in just his fourth fight in the UFC. But, in a sense, he didn’t really shock anyone.
Alex Pereira was 2-0 with Israel Adesanya going into the title fight at UFC 281. Despite the two wins over the Nigerian-Kiwi coming in kickboxing, under the Glory banner, the nature of the second victory (that is, by way of KO), really seemed to put a pin in Pereira’s name. And, at UFC 281, the exact same happened – Adesanya controlled the fight for the majority of 25 minutes before Pereira was able to severely damage the ex-champion and have the fight stopped in his favour.
Now, Robert Whittaker, a perennial top 5 candidate in the middleweight division has spoken about Pereira, and the middleweight situation. He said, “Did you see the size of the fella? Dude is a giant. I have been face to face with Israel, Israel’s pretty big…but then you see Pereira up against him, his facial features are bigger, his feet and hands and forearms are massive… Who let this guy in?”
Speaking about a potential fight, he said, “As I said before, I’m not planning past Costa…Pereira’s a better match-up for me than Israel [Adesanya], just because of the way he stands and like to push forwards, the way he likes to fight, gives me an edge.”
Robert Whittaker can find himself back in the title picture with a win over Paulo Costa
Robert Whittaker takes on Paulo Costa at UFC 284, in his backyard, at Perth. After a year absence from down under, the UFC is set to make a return to Australia with a massive PPV headlined by featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski taking on lightweight champion Islam Makhachev for the 155-pound belt.
Robert Whittaker will trade blows with Brazilian Paulo Costa on the main card. In the Brazilian, Robert Whittaker will find a big hitter, with terrifying power in his hands. Yet, Whittaker is a technical genius and can mix in the right amounts of grappling and striking to weather the storm, as he did against Yoel Romero.
If he gets past Costa, and Alex Pereira is still the champion of the middleweight division, Whittaker might just find himself with another title shot at his hands – in the previous one, he was defeated by then-champion Israel Adesanya. What can work in the Australian’s favour is his wrestling base, which might put the veteran kickboxer in treacherous waters.
However, the potential match-up is contingent on a lot of things, especially the outcome of Robert Whittaker’s fight against Paulo Costa.
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Udayan Mukherjee
(382 Articles Published)