Robert Whittaker is fighting for a ticket out of purgatory when he faces Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290
If you ask former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker why he's fighting Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290 this weekend the answer is pretty simple.
- Rob Whittaker will face Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290 this weekend in a middleweight title eliminator
- Former champion Whittaker is a heavy favourite against the South African
- Whittaker is hell bent on earning another shot against current champ Israel Adesanya
"Who else is there?" Whittaker said.
"Honestly, that's why. I'm running out of opponents."
Australia's first UFC champion isn't wrong. A third fight with current middleweight champ Israel Adesanya isn't something he wants, it's something he says he needs – not for the chance to claim the title again, but to try and erase his two defeats to the Kiwi superstar.
But that might not come for a while. Adesanya and Whittaker are the two best middleweights in the world by a fair margin and each of them would be heavily favoured against anybody at that weight except for each other.
So as it stands, Whittaker is stuck in a strange purgatory as the division's ultimate gatekeeper. He's a championship-calibre fighter, just without the gold.
He's been promised a third chance at Adesanya if he wins on Sunday, which brings us back to Du Plessis.
The South African is unbeaten in five UFC bouts and is one of the first of a new generation of middleweights for whom the likes of Whittaker and Adesanya are elder statesmen.
This is his first shot at the big time and even if the stakes are higher for the Pretoria man than ever before, Whittaker believes it will just make all the more dangerous.
"There's no room for error with these guys. Every fight is so hard and the entire fight is so hard and it's hard to put people away at this level because they don't make silly mistakes.
"But you go from being the favourite to being the underdog and that's where Dricus is right now.
"He has nothing to lose, everyone thinks he's going to get washed and that makes him dangerous – he has nothing to lose."
Du Plessis is burly, unorthodox and well-rounded and has developed a fine habit of muddying the waters during fights and thriving in the subsequent chaos.
For Whittaker to win, he plans to rise above and reaffirm his status as one of the best middleweights in UFC history.
"My experience and my decision-making in combat has gotten better and technically I've gotten better. I've increased my skill by a good margin and I want to showcase that," Whittaker said.
"I want to get in there and take the fight wherever I want. I want to be in control, 15 minutes of me doing whatever I want to do.
"If I want to box him I'll box him, if I want to kick him I'll kick him, if I want to take him down and roll him I'll do that. I want absolute control.
"He's hungry. He's a dog. He's going to get in there and make it a war, make it a dogfight, hang in there and be resilient.
"He's also very well-rounded, he's got a good skill set and I can't underestimate that but I'm better. He's not going to come out with anything I'm not ready for."
Whittaker is one of five Australians fighting on one of the biggest UFC cards of the year.
Featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski will defend his title against Mexico's Yair Rodriguez while rising welterweight Jack Della Maddalena will take on late replacement Josiah Harrell after his original opponent Sean Brady withdrew due to injury.
On the undercard, Melbourne light-heavyweight Jimmy Crute will rematch Alonzo Menifield after their draw earlier this year and flyweight Shannon Ross will lock horns with Jesús Santos Aguilar.
