Robert Whittaker claims several fighters turned him down ahead of UFC Sydney return

Released
November 9, 2026, 3:03 pm PST

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Robert Whittaker had a tough time getting a challenger for his next battle.

Whittaker made his light heavyweight launching in July and scored a TKO win over Nikita Krylov. The previous UFC middleweight champ had actually been attempting to get another battle however he had a difficult time getting challengers.

Whittaker is now set to return at UFC Sydney on Feb. 6 in the co-main occasion versus Bogdan Guskov, which is behind he desired.

“I wished to act earlier; I wished to get in around that November or December duration,” Whittaker stated to Ariel Helwani“We were attempting to get dates and names, and guys weren’t leaping at the bit to leap up and combat. February was simply around the corner when we understood someone would take the battle and attempted to get something lined up.”

‘It didn’t work for them’

Part of the reason Whittaker isn’t combating up until February is the reality that numerous fighters turned him down till Guskov accepted the battle.

“I felt grateful; we tossed out the battle to a lot of other guys, and it didn’t work for them,” Whittaker included. “When we lastly got the name and they stated, ‘Hey, Bogdan wishes to get in Sydney next year,’ I resembled, ‘Hell yeah.’ I have not combated in Sydney for 12 years. That was my middleweight launching … It exercised much better in a manner.”

Thankfully, Guskov did accept the battle. He will handle Whittaker in the co-main occasion in an enjoyable battle at light heavyweight. If Whittaker wins, he will be close to a title shot, so the stakes are high.

Whittaker is 27-9 as a professional and is coming off a TKO win over Krylov. Before that, he lost back-to-back battles to Reinier de Ridder and Khamzat Chimaev in his last battles at middleweight.

This post appeared initially on BJPENN.COM