Robert Whittaker: It would’ve been great to put George St-Pierre on my resume
Robert Whittaker admits he is a bit disappointed about not being able to fight Georges St-Pierre.
Upon winning the middleweight title at UFC 217, Georges St-Pierre was contractually obligated to fight interim champion Robert Whittaker for his first title defense. Instead, St-Pierre decided to vacate the title, stating he would rather focus on his health first than hold up the division.
It is a fight that Whittaker apparently was looking forward to, and he admits the moment the mere possibility of it was finally killed off disappointed him a little bit.
“Yeah, it was (disappointing), because I wanted to fight Georges out of respect more than anything,” Whittaker told Submission Radio. “I idolized him as a child coming up and as a young man coming up in my career he was always like one of my biggest idols.”
“To be able to fight him would’ve been great, to put him on my resume and say I fought Georges St-Pierre, that was great. But I don’t think I ever really convinced myself that he would fight me. I think it was a dangerous fight for him, a hard fight for him and it is what it is.”
Now the undisputed 185-pound champion, Whittaker is looking ahead at his current challengers, with the first one being Luke Rockhold at UFC 221. But other middleweights like Kelvin Gastelum are questioning Whittaker’s decision of picking Rockhold, saying “Bobby Knuckles” went for the easier route.
To this, Whittaker also has a response.
“(laughs) Anyone who thinks Rockhold is an easy fight is off their head,” Whittaker said of Gastelum’s statement. “He’s the previous champ, he’s one of the best fighters in the world. Anyone that can say he’s an easy fight can fight him. Let’s see Kelvin fight him.”
UFC 221 takes place on February 11th in Perth, Australia.