{"id":496317,"date":"2026-02-24T12:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T12:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/496317\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T12:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T12:54:08","slug":"im-locking-in-for-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/496317\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m Locking In For June"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former UFC middleweight champion who is at the tail end of his career wants to move up to light heavyweight before he potentially hangs up his gloves.<\/p>\n

In a recent interview, the first Aussie to win a UFC championship, Robert Whittaker<\/a>, confirmed that he\u2019s decided to move up a weight class and is expecting to fight in June.<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

Robert Whittaker\u2019s current form<\/p>\n

The Reaper\u201d was riding a two-fight win streak in 2024 until he met Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308<\/a>, where he was submitted by \u201cBorz\u201d in Round 1 with a rare naked choke-cum-face-crank. Whittaker suffered a dental injury in the Chimaev fight and hence remained on the sidelines for nearly a year.<\/p>\n

In 2025, he returned to face surging contender Reinier de Ridder in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi, and after a hard-fought five-rounder, lost by split decision.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Former UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker Confirms Move up to Light Heavyweight<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, \u201cThe Reaper\u2019 had teased a move up<\/a> to the UFC\u2019s 205-pound division, and now he\u2019s confirmed the same. In a recent sitdown with Submission Radio<\/a>, he said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI took some breaks. I worked on some other things, and it\u2019s given me a moment to really just settle in and work out what I want to do moving forward, and mate, I\u2019m locking in now. I\u2019m looking in for June. I want to get in there. I want to fight again. I want to fight in June. Uh, 205 most likely\u2026 I\u2019m going to give it a go. I know a lot of naysayers, a lot of things on the internet saying \u2018small this, small that.\u2019 Shut up, dude. Like I want to, I want to give it a go. I\u2019m like on the tail end of my career so like I got to try rather than just thinking about what ifs.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what made him consider a move up to the UFC light heavyweight division, Whittaker added that he has thinking about it for a long time. Although \u201cThe Reaper\u201d is confident he can still make 185 pounds, he believes he will be more efficient competing if he moves up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to say. There was never really like a a nail in the coffin. It was more like I\u2019ve been playing with the idea for a long time. During the break, I was kind of I was training at a heavier weight. I want to lock in and move into this weight division. And I don\u2019t know, there wasn\u2019t really a final thing like because there\u2019s no doubt in my mind I could make middleweight. I can make it still like I can lose the weight, but I just don\u2019t know if it\u2019s like if I\u2019m getting the best out of myself, you know, having having to cut that weight, having to to like because the the camp performance kind of really suffers on the back end of a weight card and a lot of fighters can can testify that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Aussie added that he will take three to four months to transition, and does not plan to add too much muscle, as the extra mass could slow him down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m locking in for June. I want to get in there. I want to throw down again. I\u2019m moving up to 205. I want to adjust to the weight. I want to perform at the weight. I want to build some muscle, etc., etc. So, I want to give myself like a decent leg of work, like a good four months to prep and come in there at my best\u2026 I\u2019m going to try and get put on a little bit muscle, but you\u2019re exactly right. I\u2019m not going to put on too much. Like I walk around heavy anyway.<\/p>\n

Check out Robert Whittaker\u2019s comments below (3:58):<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former UFC middleweight champion who is at the tail end of his career wants to move up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":["post-496317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}