Robert Whittaker

Robert John Whittaker (born 20 December 1990) is a New Zealand-born Australian professional mixed martial artist.

He currently competes in the Middleweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former UFC Middleweight Champion.

As of 12 September 2023, he is #3 in the UFC middleweight rankings.

A professional MMA competitor since 2009, Whittaker was a contestant on the first series of The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes and won the welterweight tournament.

In 2008, Whittaker signed with Australia's Xtreme Fighting Championships and made his debut 14 March 2009 against fellow pro debutant Chris Tallowin.

Whittaker won the fight via TKO in the first round.

Whittaker continued his career with Cage Fighting Championships, going 6-0 inside the promotion from 2009 to 2011, with a notable win over fellow TUF: Smashes cast member, Ben Alloway.

On 30 October 2011, Whittaker lost his first fight when he travelled to Cotai, Macau for Legend Fighting Championships 6: he fought Hoon Kim and lost via submission in the first round.

Whittaker bounced back from the loss and won two consecutive bouts before suffering his second loss to Jesse Juarez, which brought his overall record to 9–2.

In 2012, Whittaker's coach, Henry Perez, put him forward for the first series of The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes, which pitted a team of eight Australians against a team of eight men from the United Kingdom, and he was selected as one of the cast members.

In his first fight on the show, Whittaker fought Luke Newman.

Whittaker landed a punch flush on the chin of Newman after 19 seconds, knocking him unconscious for several minutes.

The win moved him onto the semifinal round.

The knockout also earned Whittaker an additional $25,000 for "Knockout of the Season".

In the semifinal, Whittaker was matched against replacement fighter and fellow Team Australia teammate, Xavier Lucas.

Whittaker won via knockout at 1:17 in the first round.

The win moved Whittaker into the final round of the competition, which would take place live on UFC on FX: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson.

Whittaker made his UFC debut on 15 December 2012 at UFC on FX 6, which was also known as "The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes Finale".

He would fight Brad Scott to determine the welterweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes.

Whittaker won the fight via unanimous decision to become the first winner of The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes alongside Norman Parke, who was the lightweight winner.

Whittaker faced Colton Smith on 25 May 2013 at UFC 160.

He won the fight by TKO in the third round.

Whittaker faced Court McGee on 28 August 2013 at UFC Fight Night 27.

He lost the fight via split decision.

Whittaker was expected to face Brian Melancon on 7 December 2013 at UFC Fight Night 33.

However, Melancon pulled out of the bout citing an injury and subsequently retired.

As a result, Whittaker was removed from the card.

Whittaker faced Stephen Thompson on 22 February 2014 at UFC 170.

He lost the fight via TKO in the first round.

Whittaker became interim middleweight champion after winning the title at UFC 213; he was promoted to undisputed champion after Georges St-Pierre vacated the UFC Middleweight Championship in 2017.

Whittaker was born at Middlemore Hospital in Ōtāhuhu, Auckland, New Zealand.

His father is an Australian of European descent and his mother is of Māori and Samoan descent.

Moving to Australia shortly after, Whittaker's father enrolled Robert, aged seven, and his brother in a Goju-ryu karate school, to encourage them in self-discipline and self-defence.

After training in the discipline for around eight years, and earning his black belt, his father offered him the chance to change to another sport or drop karate entirely.

While his brother decided to drop out, Robert chose to switch to a hapkido gym run by Henry Perez, following his move to Menai.

Not long afterwards, Perez transformed his gym into an MMA gym.

Having no other choice, Whittaker began training in MMA and was immediately hooked, choosing MMA as his preferred sport over rugby league.

Whittaker was a talented rugby league player in his younger years and was placed in the development academy of the professional Cronulla Sharks club as a youth.

Whittaker prefers not to engage in trash-talk outside of the octagon:

"I'm the type of fighter that goes into every fight with no ill will towards my opponent. I'm an athlete first and foremost and I love the sport."