"The height disadvantage is annoying" - Former UFC champion Robert Whittaker talks about the pros and cons of potential move up to light heavyweight

Robert Whittaker finds himself in a perplexing situation at middleweight. With Israel Adesanya cleaning out the division, the Aussie now seems to have hit a roadblock in his journey towards middleweight gold.

'The Reaper' faced Adesanya on two occasions, at UFC 243 and UFC 271. He was beaten both times by 'The Last Stylebender' - first via TKO and then by unanimous decision. While his future in the middleweight division seems unclear, 'The Reaper' is now eyeing a move to the light heavyweight division, which is ruled by Jiri Prochazka.

Whittaker recently spoke to Submission Radio before his upcoming fight with Marvin Vettori at UFC Paris. Even though the Aussie believes the 205-pound weight class will be natural for him, he still has complaints, saying:

"I have been thinking about 205 for a fair bit. The problem is, I wouldn't go to 205 to come back down to 185. I think it'll be a more natural weight for me personally. But, the height disadvantage is annoying. I don't know if I'd want to deal with that."

Check out what Robert Whittaker said about moving up to the light heavyweight division:

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If Robert Whittaker moves to 205 pounds, it won't be the first time he is changing a weight class

Robert Whittaker is best known for his success in the 185-pound division of the UFC. But that wasn't the weight class 'The Reaper' made his debut in.

Watch Robert Whittaker in 2014 talk about moving up to the middleweight division:

Before achieving UFC gold in the middleweight division, Whittaker competed as a welterweight. 'The Reaper' appeared on The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes and won the tournament at 170 pounds. However, towards the end of his time at welterweight, Whittaker suffered two consecutive losses.

These defeats, mixed with weight-cutting issues, forced 'The Reaper' to move up to 185 pounds. This decision by the Aussie paid dividends as he amassed a nine-fight win streak and became the undisputed UFC middleweight champion.

If he changes weight classes again, it would be interesting to see how Whittaker would fare at light heavyweight. Before he does the same, the Aussie has a tough task ahead of him in the shape of Marvin Vettori at UFC Paris. Last year, the Italian fought and defeated a light-heavyweight Paulo Costa as the Brazilian had missed weight by almost 20 pounds.