This past Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 298, we saw a banger in the middleweight division. Former champion Robert Whittaker (25-7) was looking to get back in the win column as he took on former title challenger Paulo Costa (14-3).
There was a lot of intrigue with this matchup and it’s been tentatively booked a couple of times. That said, we finally saw it all come together on Saturday night and boy, it didn’t disappoint. Both men looked sensational throughout the three round fight.
In the first round, both men saw success, but Whittaker was landing at a much higher clip. That said, Costa rocked him badly at the end of the first round which gave him the first round. For the rest of the fight, both men continued to trade big shots, but again, Whittaker was consistently landing more and cleaner. After three rounds, all three judges gave the fight to the former UFC champ.
What’s next after UFC 298?
This fight once again proved to me what Robert Whittaker is still one of the very best in the world in the middleweight division. There were a lot of questions surrounding him after his loss to Dricus Du Plessis and there were questions surrounding whether or not he would start to tail off.
However, Whittaker emphatically answered all the doubts on Saturday night and the former UFC champ is back in the win column. So, after this latest win, what should be next for him? Actually, I think his next fight is pretty clear if you ask me. I think he should face off against another former champ in Sean Strickland.
Strickland is coming off a split decision loss to DDP for the middleweight title. With Du Plessis likely facing Israel Adesanya for the title, I think Strickland and Whittaker should face off in a title eliminator.