Robert Whittaker Should Get the Next Middleweight Title Shot

Hey everyone. I’m back with my weekly column this week. Sorry I’ve been absent with my columns from the MMA zone for a little while. April was a very busy month for me, and I had to recover a little bit after WrestleMania weekend. So, now I’m back and raring to go with a little MMA commentary. So, this week I wanted to address the current mess that is the UFC middleweight division.

It’s a bit of a mess because right now the tentatively scheduled next title fight is for Michael Bisping to defend his belt against Georges St-Pierre, in the former welterweight king’s first fight back in the UFC in over three years. It’s a huge fight, so on some level I can understand booking a match-up like that. I understand Bisping wanting that fight. But, the problem is that fight is happening when middleweight has a lot of viable contenders right now looking to get a shot at the belt. The GSP fight is holding up the entire division. Not to mention, it’s happening after Bisping already got a matchup against Dan Henderson. Henderson was one of the greatest fighters ever, but he was definitively nowhere close to being a contender when he was granted a shot at the belt. So now, Bisping is essentially getting another showcase fight where his title is on the line. No matter what he says, it’s highly unlikely he’ll fight again and defend the belt against a top contender six weeks later in a scenario where he beats GSP.

As of now, there are really three top contenders at middleweight right now are arguably viable contenders for the title: Yoel Romero; Gegard Mousasi; and Robert Whittaker. If it were my choice to book the next UFC middleweight title fight, my choice would be Robert Whittaker. Of those three contenders, I believe it’s really been Whittaker who has been the standout in the last two-plus years since he made his debut at middleweight.

Whittaker was an unassuming fighter who you didn’t expect to mount to much after he won his season of The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes back in 2012. He had an uneventful run as a welterweight in the UFC, going 3-2. It wasn’t until he made the move up to middleweight that he started making waves. A guy like Whittaker moving up in weight seemed insane. Even back in 2014, it wasn’t something you would often see in high-level MMA. Normally, fighters would always try to make a move down a weight class. The logic in dropping weight is always about being the biggest, strongest guy in your weight class. Whittaker is one of those guys who proved that logic is nothing but dirt. He made his middleweight debut in November 2014, knocking out Clint Hester. Hester is not an elite competitor or a name you would hear a lot, but at the time, he was riding a four-fight winning streak in the UFC before he lost to Whittaker. Whittaker has won every fight he’s been in since that fight, and he’s generally been impressive every time. He looks better each and every time he steps into the cage.

Derek Brunson was another fighter who had gone through quite the transformation and was looking better than ever when he was going into his fight with Robert Whittaker. He had rightfully climbed his way into the top 10 of the middleweight ranks. Whittaker soundly handled him and knocked him out after a head kick just over four minutes into the first round.

But, what really cemented Whittaker’s contender status in my eyes was the fight with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. I made no secret before the fight how big of a fan I was after Jacare. It’s not that I thought Whittaker was incapable of beating him, but Jacare was definitely an emotional favorite for me. Plus, Jacare always had a scary ground game, and I wasn’t sure that Whittaker would be prepared for that. However, Whittaker and Jacare fought, and Whittaker made Jacare look like he didn’t even belong in there. Over the course of the last nine years, no man has finished Jacare. That includes top athletes in a career that encompassed the UFC and Strikeforce. Even Yoel Romero couldn’t pull off a decisive victory over Jacare, winning an ugly split decision. That’s why I’m favoring Whittaker over Romero. It was Whittaker who I believe soundly defeated one of the best middleweights on the planet and not Romero. Even when Mousasi knocked out Jacare in DREAM back in 2008, it was after a sort of flukey upkick. Whittaker’s victory was no fluke. He gave Jacare the beating of his life.

Ironically enough, Bisping was actually scheduled to face Whittaker at one point in November 2015 at UFC 193. Bisping was forced to withdraw from the fight due to an injury, and Whittaker fought Uriah Hall instead. Now, Bisping has voiced that he’d rather fight Whittaker for the title instead of Yoel Romero. I’m totally fine with that. Whittaker’s rise through the middleweight ranks has been nothing short of stunning. He’s transformed from a ho-hum winner of The Ultimate Fighter into a true middleweight title contender. Not to mention, he’s only 26 years old. That means he arguably still has his prime years ahead of him.

Yoel Romero’s performances tend to be hit and miss. Not to mention, between his drug test failures, “Stoolgate,” and his post-fight comments, he’s a magnet for controversy. His win over Jacare was hardly legitimate either. Whittaker actually smashed Jacare, which was something Romero couldn’t do.

It’s time to stop playing around. The UFC can’t even confirm a date for GSP vs. Bisping. It’s time to put the nonsense aside and book a real middleweight title fight. The best possible title fight at middleweight right now is Bisping vs. Whittaker.

Jeffrey Harris is 411mania’s resident Jack of All Trades and has covered MMA for the site since 2008. You can shoot him an e-mail at [email protected] or hit him up on Facebook. He also co-hosts the 411 Ground & Pound Radio podcast along with Robert Winfree. You can listen to the latest episode of the podcast in the player below.