Robert Whittaker has no idea where Joe Rogan was coming from when he was analyzing his recent win at UFC 329.
The former UFC middleweight champion made a successful jump up to 205 pounds this past July, when he scored a knockout over veteran Nikita Krylov, breaking Krylov’s jaw in the third round. Whittaker snapped a two-fight losing streak with his impressive performance and picked up his first win since June 2024.
However, one of the storylines that emerged during the fight was Rogan’s mid-fight criticisms, in which he criticized Whittaker’s physique at light heavyweight, at one point saying he looked “soft.” He also wondered if Krylov had found “the blueprint” to beat Whittaker earlier in the fight, a statement that Whittaker found strange when he heard about it.
“A little upsetting,” Whittaker told Bedtime MMA when asked about Rogan’s commentary. “You know what it is. You should see the amount of memes that came out after that commentary; it’s crazy. It was wild. I picked up on that comment, but I assumed it was, like, an accident when they said they had ‘the blueprint to beat me.’ I don’t understand where that blueprint was. I don’t know, but I felt great.
“Obviously, this is my first fight at light heavyweight. First weight cut at light heavyweight. First re-feed. There’s a lot of things I can do differently because I realized while I still cut a fair amount day of, I don’t need to refuel as much because I’m eating the whole week full, the whole week into the wake-up, which means I’m kind of salt-loaded much more than I needed to be. But I felt strong, and I was still fast. I walked in there about 103 kilos [approx. 227 pounds], which is normal because I’m a heavyset guy, and I still had my speed behind me. You could see every time I put hands on Krylov, it wasn’t like pitter patter. He was getting hurt every time; I kind of set the pace with that. So I’m really happy and comfortable with my debut in the division.”
As the fight progressed, Rogan’s appraisal of Whittaker’s efforts became more positive. Whittaker stifled the larger Kyrlov’s attempts to take the fight to the ground and pulled away in the standup before finding the finish early in Round 3.
Even Whittaker can admit that he wasn’t at his best early on, though.
“I think the first round could have started better,” Whittaker said. “I don’t know if it was because of his pace in trying to force that takedown and wear on me; he came off second best in that exchange, or if it was the nerves of everything kind of falling on my shoulders. Had two losses in middleweight, just moved up to light heavyweight, had a lot of doubters and stuff like that. I don’t know if it was a combination of both or something specific, or maybe it was just a slow start.
“I think the beginning could have started a little sharper, maybe. I could have had some more impactful moments; I could have set things up a little bit, I could have worked the distance a little bit. Should have used my feet maybe a bit more. I think I maybe threw two kicks.”
Right now, Whittaker is loving life at light heavyweight even as he’s still adjusting to his third weight class in the UFC. “The Reaper” won The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes as a welterweight in 2012, later moving up to 185 pounds where he captured gold in 2017, and now he looks to close out his storied career at 205 pounds.
A number of potential challenges await him, including fellow former champion Jan Blachowicz, top 15 light heavyweights Khalil Rountree and Bogdan Guskov, or another middleweight transplant Paulo Costa, whom Whittaker holds a win over.
The name isn’t important for Whittaker, who hopes to book another fight before the end of 2026.
“Jan would be a good fight; I like that fight,” Whittaker said. “I think Rountree or Bogdan, those guys are all good guys. I think Jiri [Prochazka] wants to fight Costa. It depends who’s ready. My whole thing with the UFC is I give them a date, and they give me a name. So whoever’s ready by the end of the year, I’ll step in there with.
“The light heavyweight division is so fluid right now. You can just have a good win and be put straight into a title conversation. Look at Costa. Came in and put in a really good showing, and he’s got a case of getting the title fight.”
