Robert Whittaker claimed interim middleweight gold in July, with a hard-fought victory over Yoel Romero at UFC 213.
Making the triumph even more impressive was the fact that Whittaker accomplished the feat at less than 100 percent after injuring his knee in the first round of the headlining bout. “The Reaper” was eventually installed as the undisputed middleweight champion after Georges St. Pierre vacated the crown, but the Australian was forced to pull out of his first official title defense against Luke Rockhold in the originally scheduled UFC 221 main event due to injury.