Robert Whittaker is warning Alex Pereira to not combat fellow UFC champion Dricus Du Plessis at middleweight.
Mild heavyweight champ Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) expressed curiosity in dropping again right down to 185 kilos to problem middleweight champ Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC), who’s contemporary off a fourth-round submission of Israel Adesanya at UFC 305. The final time Pereira competed at middleweight, he was knocked out by Adesanya at UFC 287. He has since dominated the sunshine heavyweight division, however Whittaker thinks draining himself again right down to 185 kilos can be detrimental to him.
“Truthfully I don’t suppose that’s combat for him,” Whittaker informed Submission Radio. “Yeah, I don’t suppose that’s combat for him. But in addition like, whenever you transfer as much as gentle heavyweight, shifting again down is hard.
“And it’s not such as you transfer up for one combat. He stayed up there. He’s been combating up there for some time now. So, it might take so much out of him to get down, and Dricus is so robust there.”
Whittaker additionally thinks Pereira wouldn’t have the ability to deal with Du Plessis’ energy at middleweight.
“Properly, Alex will get hit, OK, and Dricus likes getting hit,” Whittaker stated. “So it’s onerous to see somebody with the quantity of energy to cease Dricus from strolling ahead into you, and Dricus hits onerous. You noticed that within the combat towards Adesanya. Adesanya has acquired like a very good chin, and Dricus was nonetheless hurting him sufficient to make him uncomfortable.”
Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) will look to notch his third gentle heavyweight title protection when he takes on Khalil Rountree (13-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) within the UFC 307 predominant occasion Oct. 5 in Salt Lake Metropolis.
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