Former undisputed middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker has spoken publicly for the first time since suffering his second round TKO loss to newly-minted number one contender, Dricus du Plessis at UFC 290 over the course of last weekend, admitting that he did not “show up to fight”.
Whittaker, who has since slumped to number three in the official middleweight rankings, featured on the main card of UFC 290 over the course of last weekend, taking on South African finisher, du Plessis in an officially billed title-eliminator at the middleweight limit.
Suffering his first knockout loss at the middleweight limit since a 2019 title unification defeat to current gold holder, Israel Adesanya, had secured an impressive unanimous decision win over Italian contender, Marvin Vettori in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night Paris back in September of last year in a passage to France.