Former UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker finally reveals why he took time away from the spotlight and UFC in general.
Back in January, the 29-year-old was originally scheduled to fight Jared Cannonier at UFC 248; however, Whittaker pulled out of the fight due to personal reasons. Rumors started circulating that the former UFC Middleweight Champion was donating a bone marrow to his daughter, but Whittaker shoots down the false claims and reveals that he was just burned out from fighting:
“I have no idea where that came from,” Whittaker told “The Daily Telegraph. During the break, I got off all social media to spend time with family, so it was my old man who actually contacted me, explaining there was this crazy rumor going around, and from there, it just got a life of its own. But my kids were all fine. They are fine. It was me who had the issue.”
Whittaker’s constant training for his fights took time away from his family and friends; however, the Australia native didn’t realize what he was missing until he was climbing the Wanda dunes on Christmas Day:
“I just stopped,” Whittaker said. “Then (I) stood there, asking, ‘What the (expletive) am I doing?’ It was Christmas Day. My family was somewhere else. That moment, it’s when everything crashed. I sacrificed everything, My team suggested several plans which I took to and, because it worked, I just kept at it. But you can’t keep doing that forever, you just can’t. Worse than the physical grind, too, was the mental drain. I just wasn’t home.”
“I just wasn’t myself,” That’s the game though, you rock up and fight, but I know I can perform much better, and have performed much better.”
The former UFC Middleweight Champion is currently preparing for a potential bout against Darren Till at UFC Fight Night Dublin. Check out the full interview where he continues to talk about how his old training regime affected him, and so much more.