Former UFC middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker has revealed he suffered a laceration to his foot, and potentially fractured some of his toes in his UFC Paris victory over one-time title challenger, Marvin Vettori on Saturday – joking how he will have to reconsider throwing kicks in the future.
Whittaker, a former middleweight champion under the promotion’s banner and the current #1 ranked division contender, turned in a savvy and vintage striking display against Trento challenger, Vettori over the course of three rounds at the Accor Arena in the promotion’s first visit to France, en route to a unanimous decision win.
The victory returned Robert Whittaker to the winner’s enclosure for the first time since February of this year, where he unsuccessfully pried the undisputed middleweight title from two-time foe, Israel Adesanya in a close championship rematch at UFC 271.
Robert Whittaker details leg injury suffered at UFC Paris
Retaining his status as number one contender at 185lbs post-UFC Paris, Whittaker revealed during a post-fight interview with UFC roving reporter, Megan Olivi how he had suffered another foot injury during his co-headlining win against Vettori.
“I think I cut me (sic) toe open,” Robert Whittaker said. “And maybe broke a couple (toes) on the end there – I gotta stop kicking, it hurts me foot too much.
Launching on several occasions with an almost patented ducking round kick, Whittaker failed to land clean on Vettori throughout with numerous offerings, clipping the Italian’s elbow to boot as the Kings MMA staple blocked and defended offense.
Flirting with a potential leap to the promotion’s light heavyweight limit before his Paris showdown with Vettori, Whittaker has since found himself linked with another high-profile middleweight outing in the form of a rescheduled bout against Brazilian striker, Paulo Costa.
The Belo Horizonte native featured just last month, in fact, turning in his own impressive unanimous decision win over former division champion, Luke Rockhold in the co-main event of UFC 278 in Salt Lake City, Utah.