Robert Whittaker breaks silence after loss against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 290

Many long regarded Robert Whittaker as the best fighter in the middleweight division not named Israel Adesanya. In fact, during his UFC 290 bout, the commentary team made it a point to claim that were it not for 'The Last Stylebender', Whittaker would still be the middleweight champion.

Their reasoning was sound. 'The Reaper' hadn't lost to anyone but Adesanya in the 185-pound weight class. However, that changed at UFC 290, when he suffered a crushing TKO loss at the hands of Dricus du Plessis. Two days after the pay-per-view, Robert Whittaker finally addressed the loss.

He took to Instagram, where he posted a video of himself, thanking his family and team for being part of his support structure and his sponsors for carrying him from a financial standpoint between fights. At the tail-end of his video, he congratulated Dricus du Plessis for getting the job done this past Saturday.

Part of Whittaker's words are as follows:

"Lastly, I want to say thank you to... not thank you, congratulations to Dricus. He showed up to fight, you know and I didn't. But that's the nature of the beast, you know, that's the nature of the beast. You can't have a day off. Yeah, it is what it is."

While Whittaker appeared in high spirits in the video, he did not mention his next move. It's important to note that he mentioned being healthy, so he suffered no injuries and could be scheduled for one more fight later this year. With the UFC returning to Sydney, Whittaker's hometown, later this year, 'The Reaper' could be added to the card.

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Who did Robert Whittaker beat to become the UFC middleweight champion?

'The Reaper' first ascended to the divisional throne at 185 pounds when Michael Bisping was the reigning champion. Unfortunately, a severe knee injury sidelined the Englishman for several months, prompting the UFC to book Robert Whittaker in an interim title fight with Yoel Romero.

The Australian emerged victorious, but a bout with Bisping never took place. Whittaker suffered his own knee injury, and the Englishman subsequently fought Georges-St Pierre to defend his title. 'GSP' won but vacated the title without ever defending it, causing Whittaker to be promoted to undisputed champion.