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Australian UFC star Robert Whittaker has plotted out his four-fight retirement plan, which the former middleweight champion hopes will end with another shot at the title.
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Whittaker fights on Sunday morning in the UFC Fight Night main event against Reinier de Ridder, who only made his UFC debut last November but has quickly risen to prominence in the division with three-straight wins.
It could either be the start — or end — of a four-fight retirement plan that Whittaker floated with Main Event’s Niko Pajarillo earlier in the month.
“I want to get the belt and sail off into the sunset,” the former champion said on Wednesday.
“That’s the dream. That’s the plan.”
Whittaker would’ve been in the position to do just that had he defeated Khamzat Chimaev last October, with the undefeated middleweight phenom now fighting Dricus du Plessis for the belt at UFC 319.
A face crank forced Whittaker to tap quickly, with the Australian suffering serious damage to his jaw and teeth.
Whittaker said the recovery “wasn’t too bad” though and that the nine months away from the octagon gave him “clarity” on how he wants to spend his final few years in the octagon.
Meanwhile, seeing fellow countryman Alexander Volkanovski overcome his own sceptics to become the UFC’s featherweight king for the second time was “inspiring” for Whittaker.
“It made me feel like it’s time to get my finger out,” Whittaker said.
Because if he does, Whittaker has the chance to bow out of the UFC like lightweight legend Dustin Poirier, who was given a fight against Max Holloway for the BMF belt last weekend.
“I want to go out like that,” Whittaker said.
“I want that. I want that.”
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In order to get that, Whittaker has to get past de Ridder first and the Australian said the key to beating his Dutch rival will be making him uncomfortable from the start or risk being swallowed whole by his pressure.
“If he wants to push forward, I’ve got to make sure that he’s got to pay the toll,” Whittaker said.
If Whittaker is able to make a statement against de Ridder, the dream scenario would be winning a few more fights before getting a rematch with du Plessis.
The Australian was knocked out by the current middleweight champion at UFC 290 and an honest Whittaker admitted on Wednesday that his headspace wasn’t where it needed to be for that fight.
“There were a lot of attributes leading into that, but I want to get it back,” Whittaker said.
“It’s the only time I’ve felt like that in a fight, and I want to get it back.”
More than anything though, beyond winning world titles or beating du Plessis, Whittaker just wants to be in control of his own destiny. Wants to go out his own way.
Like Poirier, who was given a legend’s farewell, Whittaker strongly believes that you “either retire from the sport or the sport retires you”.
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“And when I was younger, I didn’t really think about it too much,” Whittaker added.
“But as the years go on and I’ve been in this game for so long and I’ve fought so much, I can feel it.
“I can see that I don’t want to do this forever. I can see that I don’t want to be selfish during the camps and take time away from my kids. I can see that I don’t want to make the sacrifices that I have done forever, so I know that I can will it through for a little bit longer and let’s try to achieve some more things.”
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And if it doesn’t go to plan? If Whittaker isn’t in a position to contend for the title after his next three or four fights?
Well, it sounds like the Australian is content with going out on his own terms, whatever that ends up looking like.
“You have to have a real good idea on who you are and be quite self-reflective to be able to do it properly so that you don’t end up back in the Octagon a year later,” he said.
“I think that’s what I want.
“… I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s like that last 100 metres of the marathon. I can see the end is in sight and it’s time for that final push.”
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While Whittaker is looking to bounce back from a last-start loss to Khamzat Chimaev and put himself back in the title frame, Tim Tszyu’s own world championship ambitions came crashing down last Sunday in a seventh-round TKO defeat at the hands of Sebastian Fundora.
Whittaker, who has previously sparred with Tszyu, told foxsports.com.au he wasn’t able to catch the full fight in between his training in Abu Dhabi, but from what he had gathered he had a pretty clear message for anyone calling the Australian a quitter.
“From what I understand, he was getting hit four for every one of his,” Whittaker said.
“Anybody that says he quit, take the amount of punches he did. See how you feel.
“Head trauma is real. When your head starts to hurt and you can feel it, it’s very hard to do anything.
“A lot of the guys that are commenting online are just guys that don’t want to have a cold shower because it’s uncomfortable.”
Whittaker backed Tszyu to return to the ring “better than before” and while there have been some suggestions that he should retire, Whittaker called for everyone to give his fellow Australian fighter the time and space to make his own decision.
“If everybody listens to the comments online, it’d be terrible,” Whittaker said.
“The sport has some of the best fans and worst fans in the world. It really does. I think everyone should just chill.
“Let him recover. Let him take some time off and then see what he wants to do afterwards.”