Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Robert Whittaker will begin his climb back to a possible title shot this Sat. night (July 25, 2020) when he takes on Darren Till in the main event of UFC on ESPN 14 from inside Flash Forum on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Before then, let’s take a trip down memory lane to see one of “The Reaper’s” best performances inside the Octagon. Back in 2017, Whittaker found himself staring down former Strikeforce Middleweight king, Ronaldo Souza, at UFC on FOX 24. Up to that point, Whittaker was on a six-fight win streak, winning five straight since moving up from Welterweight. Souza, meanwhile, was coming off two straight wins and was looking for a big win in an attempt to sneak into the championship picture.
After a fairly even round one, Whittaker picked up the pace in round two, finding his range and tagging “Jacare” at will, dropping him with a huge right hand in the opening seconds of the round. After surviving, Souza found himself on the receiving end of a nice high kick from Robert a few minutes later, stunning the jiu-jitsu ace.
Whittaker didn’t slow his attack, pouncing on his wounded foe with several combinations which forced Souza to go to the ground. And while that would normally be a good thing for the submission wizard Whittaker on top of you raining down bombs is no joke. The Aussie piled on the punishment until the referee stepped in to put an end to the fight.
Now, “The Reaper” will look to score a huge win on “Fight Island” in hopes of sneaking his way into facing the winner of Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa later this year.
For much more on this weekend’s Whittaker-Till main event click here. To see the rest of the UFC on ESPN 14 fight card and line up click here.