UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski simply can’t see Dricus Du Plessis beating Robert Whittaker.
Whittaker (25-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) takes on Du Plessis (19-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) at UFC 290 on Saturday from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ABC/ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
Former champion Whittaker has lost at middleweight just twice – both to current champion Israel Adesanya. Du Plessis has been on the rise with back-to-back stoppages of Darren Till and Derek Brunson, but Volkanovski expects his fellow Aussie Whittaker to be too much for Du Plessis.
“Look, man, obviously Izzy wants new blood,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “He definitely would like to see Dricus go out there (and win) so that he could fight him, a new person in front of him. There would be a lot of hype if he was able to beat Robert Whittaker. But beating Robert Whittaker is not going to be easy for him. Again, he could be a great fighter, but Robert Whittaker is just too well rounded, he’s too good everywhere, and his skill set is gonna be too much.
“I think you’d be mad to think that Dricus can get it done. Obviously it’s entertaining for an underdog to get a big win but not against someone like a Robert Whittaker. He’s too smart, he’s too well rounded, and I think he’s gonna be way too much for Dricus. If they’re the next guys fighting for the title out of that fight, it’s going to have to be Rob. I cannot see Rob losing that fight. He’s obviously unstoppable outside the Izzy fights. No one can get anywhere near him. That just shows you how good Robert Whittaker is.”
Since getting edged out by Adesanya in their title-fight rematch at UFC 271, Whittaker rebounded with a unanimous decision win over former title challenger Marvin Vettori last September.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 290.
