Despite his veteran status as a former UFC middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker believes he is only just entering his prime at the age of 32.
Facing off with Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290, “The Reaper” is looking to take out another rising contender, re-cementing his status as the best fighter in the division not called Israel Adesanya.
Hoping to leave no other options but a third fight between the two after Adesanya took the first two, Whittaker has been in a strange place as the best of the rest at 185-pounds but that hasn’t taken away his motivation to get back on top.
In an interview with former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, Whittaker spoke about his long-term plans for his career and how he already has an exit route in mind.
“36, at 36 we’re going to sit down with everybody and have a good honest talk about what’s going on.” Whittaker replied. “Yeah, a team thing, talking to my father and my wife. I think 36 is the tail end of your prime, your prime prime. Your experience can cover a lot of the physical attributes you may not be hitting but I think 36 is the tail end of when you’re not doing this physically.”
Robert Whittaker Blames Wrestling For Setting His Retirement Age At 36
Retirements in MMA don’t usually last too long and that’s because a fighter never stops having the urge to compete and feeling like they’re still getting better.
After Whittaker told him that he plans to have retirement talks at 36, Bisping said that around that age is where his body started to struggle to keep up despite the fact he was improving as a martial artist by gaining more experience.
Agreeing with “The Count”, Whittaker used wrestling as a gauge for where he is at physically and whether he can continue competing to the best of his ability.
“There’s a truth to that, the body is too sore to get through the wrestling sessions so you can’t hang with the kids anymore.” Whittaker responded before talking about the impact that wrestling has on your body. “Unless you’ve been born and raised by it, your body is just not used to it, it’s such a foreign concept. It’s just nightmarishly hard but I do believe in the same sentence that it’s the pinnacle of human athleticism.”
Still 4 years of Bobby Knuckles left. Just get him great at BJJ/guard he’ll be…fine…
he’s had some brutal five rounders. can’t imagine his injury list.
I have a feeling he’s gonna get caught in this fight