Robert Whittaker

BIOGRAPHY

Robert Whittaker is an Australian mixed martial artist from New Zealand. He fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight division and is currently the reigning champion. He rose to fame after winning The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes, a team-based reality series which pitted teams of British and Australian fighters against each other for a UFC contract in 2012. Since then, he’s gone on to have a successful career in MMA, amassing an incredible 20 wins out of 22 professional bouts and becoming one of Australia’s most beloved champions.

Whittaker was born in Auckland, New Zealand but moved with his family to Menai in Sydney’s south when he was 11 years old. It wasn’t long before Robert discovered MMA; at age 15 he began training at gym owned by local fight promoter Paul ‘The Chief’ Stratford and soon developed an appetite for competition. In 2009 shortly after his 18th birthday, Robert won his first amateur bout via unanimous decision – beginning what would be a remarkable journey through the sport that continues today; as well as holding multiple titles such as Cage Fighting Championships Middleweight Champion 2013/2014 & 2018/2019 as well being named ‘Fighter Of The Year 2017’ by MMA News Wire Magazine among others

In February 2014 Robert signed with UFC – becoming only the second fighter from Australasia ever to do so – debuting against Claudio da Silva at UFC Fight Night 33 held on 7th December 2013 where he picked up a unanimous decision win over Da Silva Following this impressive performance Whittaker went on to enjoy huge success within the promotion – defeating some of its top Middleweight stars including Johny Hendricks and Derek Brunson whilst also securing memorable victories over Ronaldo Souza (Jacaré) Yoel Romero (twice), Darren Till & Kelvin Gastelum amongst many others His record stands at 8 wins vs 1 loss since moving up from welterweight class prior 2016 .

In 2017 Robert became Interim Champion following victory over Yoel Romero but had it stripped away due illness preventing him defend title unification bout versus Michael Bisping later that year . On 6 October 2018 however ,Robert earned undisputed claim middle weight throne following decisive 5 round win over Cuban powerhouse This marked first time ever Aussie born fighter become champion inside octagon , writing himself into history books despite still being only 28 years age . To date holds record 19-5 while headlining four PPV events all proving highly successful increasing popularity mainstream circles upon continent down under As result July 2019 been ranked #1 men’s pound-for-pound fighter according official rankings released by prominent media outlet Sherdog Currently awaiting return octagon facing off Paulo Costa August 2020 waiting see whether can continue run defending undefeated lightweight title