robert Whittaker targets UFC 300 return, Paulo Costa fight axed: 'He's just playing games again'
12/12/2023 10:29 AM
Former undisputed middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker may have verbally agreed to fight former title challenger, Paulo Costa at UFC 299 in March, however, the ex-titleholder will now target a UFC 300 return instead, with his manager claiming the Brazilian is still "playing games" on a bout with his client.
Whittaker, the current number three ranked middleweight contender, most recently featured on the main card of UFC 290 back in July during International Fight Week, dropping a stunning second round TKO loss to incoming UFC 297 headliner and title challenger, Dricus du Plessis.
Suffering his first loss at the middleweight limit to any contender other than former two-time foe and champion, Israel Adesanya, Whittaker has the subject of a call out from Brazilian ace, Costa, who claimed he was prepared to fight him in the opening quarter of next year.
And himself targeting a fight in March at UFC 299 – which is currently slated for a Miami, Florida landing pad, Whittaker tagged Costa in a post on his official social media – adding fuel to the fire of a once-planned pairing.
However, as far as the ex-champion's manager, Titus Day is concerned, a UFC 300 return against former undisputed welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman is on the New Zealand-born fighter's radar, who accused Costa of "playing games again" during a recent interview with Fox Sports Australia.
Robert Whittaker targets UFC 300 clash with Kamaru Usman
Himself talking up the possibility of fighting former pound-for-pound number one, Usman in the future, Whittaker urged the Auchi native to remain at the 185 pound limit amid a recent divisional bow against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 back in October.
"Definitely, the (Kamaru) USman fight interests me because I just think we are both guys that are at the tip of the food chain and I want to give him a proper welcome to the middleweight division," Robert Whittaker told Submission Radio. "I just like that fight… he's one of the best welterweights to do it and I think fighting fights of that calibre makes me excited. It's a face I haven't fought before, it's exciting, it's different."
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