Robert Whittaker is set to take some time off following his recent loss to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308 in October.
In the mean time, the middleweight division that he has long called home is set to be very busy over the new few months with some big fights being announced.
The current champion, Dricus Du Plessis, is set to defend the middleweight title in a rematch with Sean Strickland at UFC 302 in Sydney.
Another former foe of Whittaker's is also set to return in February next year as Israel Adesanya takes on Nassourdine Imavov in Saudi Arabia.
During a recent episode of his MMArcade Podcast, "The Reaper" commented on the possibility of a match-up between him and Caio Borralho now that the Brazilian doesn't have a fight booked at the top of the division:
"I don't know, we'll have to wait and see.
"I don't know cuz I'm not fighting until next June, like I'm taking some time off. I got some things in the works so I'm focusing on that stuff. I'm trying to work on some new skill sets so let's see what my timetable looks like then, okay. That's as far as I can go."
Whittaker also gave his thoughts on a rumour that he read about on social media that has not been seriously reported in any meaningful way as of yet.
He says that he saw a post about his latest opponent, Chimaev, going up to light heavyweight to challenge Alex Pereira and gave his prediction of how that fight would play out.
"Chimaev easily. Not easily, Chimaev though. I don't think, I don't know, unless like the heavyweight strength changes, there's a dynamic that Chimaev will get the takedown and then he's just good at what he does, plays into his strengths but let's say hypothetically like Chimaev slows down, gasses a little bit, Pereira won't. He can strike asleep, dead tired, dude's been doing it his whole life. He'll kill Chimaev in the stand-up. It won't be like that Usman and Chimaev fight where Usman was kind of outboxing him a little bit at that period when Chimaev got tired. It'll be a slaughter but does it go this far?"
Though it seems unlikely that Chimaev will move up a division right now given his status at 185-pounds, Whittaker might have his own plans to give 205-pounds a try.
He said that having started out in the UFC as a welterweight, he has put some thought into the idea of starting a new chapter in his career.
“I wouldn’t go down [to welterweight], I can’t go down.
"I’m still playing with the idea of going up to light heavyweight. I’m a big dude. Much bigger than people think I am.”
