Whittaker: Not making weight is as bad as not showing up

UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker appeared recently on Submission Radio and discussed Yoel Romero, who beat Luke Rockhold at UFC 221 in a interim title fight, but failed to get the belt as he weighed in heavy. Bobby Knuckles offered Romero a stern warning about missing weight.

Once the fight started I knew it was gonna happen,” said Whittaker. “Rockhold’s a great fighter, don’t get me wrong, but in my personal opinion, I don’t think he was doing the right things in order to stop Romero. But then, I’m very big on Romero not making weight. I don’t think Rockhold should have taken that fight. He had nothing to gain from it once Romero didn’t weight. But it is what it is. He’s a fighter first and foremost, he still fought, he saved the card and props to him.

“I don’t understand anyone who takes fights when their opponent doesn’t make weight. If you rock up at 87 kilos [192 pounds], which is what Romero did – It was like 86 kilos [189.5 pounds] or something like that – then why don’t I rock up at 95 ([209]? What’s the difference? We’re both not making weight, we’re both not professional enough to do it, you know? And the weight cut is directly influential to the fight itself. I think not making weight is the most unprofessional thing you can do. It’s as bad as just not showing up for the fight itself. So, if you don’t make weight, I’m not fighting you. I’ll give the shot to someone else who can make the weight, who can do their freaking job.

“Sometimes when I’m cutting weight, the difference of 500 grams [1.1 pounds], 500 GRAMS more is the difference between me going to hospital or not. You know what I mean? So when a dude doesn’t make weight by about two kilos (laughs) you’re getting a massive advantage, especially if you’re 500 grams off going to hospital.

“Cutting weight is his problem, not mine. I know my job. I know what I’ve gotta do. I’m gonna do all the things I need to do and I’m gonna rock up on weight as I always do, and if he does or does not is neither here nor there. I’ll jump that hurdle when I get there. But I’m not losing sleep over it.

Whittaker was asked how the fight plays out.

“I think it will be the exact same fight,” he predicted. “Yoel can’t fight me any other way. The only thing that will be different is that I’ll be better. [Injuring] my MCL four weeks before the fight obviously affected me, affected my training and affected my cardio. So I’m gonna be fitter and I’m not gonna have a bum knee. … I felt him out, so I’m gonna work on certain things that I know is going to stump him. I don’t think he’s at a point where he can make drastic changes. I don’t think he can change anything that will really make an impact for this next fight. But that’s all my speculation, so who knows [laughs].

I think I stop him in the third, but let’s see.

Robert Whittaker fights Yoel Romero at UFC 225: Whittaker vs. Romero 2 on June 9, 2018, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.