Robert Whittaker Losses: Israel Adesanya, Dricus Du Plessis and Every Defeat in the Ex-UFC Champ’s Career

Robert Whittaker has greatly impressed the fighting community with his performance in the Octagon. After all, he has focused his all on winning his fights. “Winning is everything in this sport,” was what Whittaker liked to believe. But the world of mixed martial arts doesn’t always revolve around what people want. There are times when the fighters have to face ugly defeats. And ‘The Reaper’ is no stranger to that.

Today, let’s take a deep dive into the professional career of ‘Bobby Knuckles’ and look at the defeats he had to face. Needless to say, these defeats are what made him the fighter he is today.

Who has Rob Whittaker lost to? Israel Adesanya, Dricus Du Plessis, and more

The Australian has proven to be one of the greatest middleweight fighters in recent times. However, he has been defeated about 7 times in his professional MMA career, and at times, brutally. The first-ever defeat that ‘The Reaper’ witnessed came at the hands of Hoon Kim at Legend Fighting Championship 6, with a triangle choke in round 1 of their bout in 2011. Of course, he boasted a 7-fight win streak before facing the defeat. But it was a reality check that the New South Wales resident needed to improve his skillsets. 

After winning 2 consecutive fights via TKO by punches, Whittaker faced the second defeat of his career in 2012. It was Jesse Juarez who defeated him at Cage Fighting Championship 21 via a unanimous decision. And that was the end of his career outside UFC.

‘Bobby Knuckles’ stepped into the Octagon in 2012 at UFC on FX 6, and won the first 2 fights in the MMA promotion. But his success was short-lived. He was handed back-to-back defeats against the likes of Court McGee and Stephen Thompson via submission and TKO, respectively. It was crucial for him to make a conscious change and he did just that as he moved up in weight class and became a middleweight fighter back in 2014. From then, he went on a legendary 8-fight win streak when he ultimately became a champion in 2017 by defeating Yoel Romero. But little did Whittaker know that Israel Adesanya would soon break that long winning streak in just 2 rounds at UFC 243.

Following 3 more victories under his belt, ‘The Reaper’s faced ‘The Last Stylebender’ once again at UFC 271, and once again, he was defeated by the former 2-time middleweight champion. Thereafter, he suffered his most recent defeat against the South African, Dricus du Plessis. The South African then went on to become the middleweight champion.

So the Du Plessis bout may not necessarily be an embarrassing loss. All in all, he has been defeated 7 times in his career. 4 losses came in the welterweight division and 3 in the middleweight division. But the most hurtful losses that Robert Whittaker would suffer came at the hands of a former two-time champion.

How did Robert Whittaker lose his title?

Things went quite downhill after Robert Whittaker’s interim title win. He was destined to face the then-rising star, Israel Adesanya, who proved to have ‘The Reaper’s number every time they fought. In the lead-up to the UFC 243 bout to unify the two interim belts, Whittaker was targeted verbally by Adesanaya and the then-contender tried to get under his skin. In their bout, ‘The Last StyleBender,’ handed him his third defeat and dethroned him from the title.

This loss had a profound effect on the Australian who took some time off but resorted back to the MMA lifestyle to make a successful comeback against Darren Till. However, yet again, Whittaker couldn’t get the better of Adesanaya and was defeated for the second time. That being said, this time around, the fight was relatively closer and more competitive than their first encounter. Not to mention, many consider Whittaker to have won the bout and deemed the decision to be a ‘robbery.’

However, notwithstanding the opinions of MMA pundits and fans, it was time for him to go back to the drawing board and win some fights. Now, let’s shift the spotlight to ‘Bobby Knuckles’ MMA records.

Robert Whittaker’s overall MMA record and stats

Whittaker has won 26 of his fights, out of which, 10 came via knockouts, and 5 from submissions. On top of that, he has won 7 fights with finishes in the first round. He seldom relied on his grappling skills to take his enemies down and submit them. No wonder he has a submission average of 0.00. But Whittaker never really failed to extract cheers from the fight fans with his takedown defense.

Talking to the UFC about winning, Whittaker said, “Losing and how you take the losses, what you do with them is important… being able to take a loss is important… but winning is everything, and I guess that’s why this sport can be so harsh sometimes. Winning pushes you forward. Winning justifies everything you sacrifice.” He continued, “Winning validates everything you’ve worked on. It’s the result everybody wants. (Fighting) never gets easier… and that’s one of the things about the sport… but I know what I can do, I know the people that I’ve beaten, and I know that I can beat this guy, too.”

And now, ‘The Reaper’ is all set to land against Khamzat Chimaev at the co-main event for UFC 308. However, their previous bout never really materialized because of Chimaev’s illness. Nevertheless, the matchup garnered quite a bit of attention in the welterweight realm. After about 4 months of defeating Ikram Aliskerov, Whittaker looks up to defeating ‘Borz’ and finds his way to a shot at the welterweight championship title.

Now that Robert Whittaker’s carrying winning momentum, we ask you, how do you see this fight playing? Who is going to win? Share with us your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.