Robert Whittaker after UFC on ESPN 22: No other fight makes sense except Israel Adesanya

LAS VEGAS – After a one-sided decision win over Kelvin Gastelum in the UFC on ESPN 22 headliner on Saturday, Robert Whittaker believes his next fight should be for the middleweight title.

It’s that simple.

Whittaker isn’t one to call out opponents or tell people what he thinks he deserves, but after a scintillating victory over a dangerous contender, “The Reaper” believes his path is clear.

“It’s funny, after the win, everybody’s calling for (a titles shot) for me,” Whittaker told MMA Junkie at the night’s post-event press conference. “That’s kind of how I’ve always taken to the approach of fighting, is that if you beat ’em all, you’re eventually at the top. It’s a simple path, and there is no other fight that makes sense to me other than that tile shot, and that’s the shot that I want and that I’m getting.”

Whittaker originally was expected to face Paulo Costa, but illness forced the Brazilian contender out of the event. Gastelum agreed to step in on one month’s notice, and Whittaker said he always knew exactly what to expect in the matchup.

“I knew this was going to be a hard fight, and you could see that,” Whittaker said. “Every strike I would land, he would take two steps forward. He was a tough guy. I head-kicked him in the first round, and he just made it a war the entire other four. Hat’s off to him.”

But Whittaker was up to the challenge and then some. While Gastelum was aggressive and durable and dangerous, Whittaker was always just one step ahead. The 30-year-old former champ earned a clean sweep of the judges’ cards, and he said aggression was the most important part of his game plan, especially in the smaller, 25-foot octagon utilized at the UFC Apex.

“It’s a smaller octagon, so I had to play to that – cater to it, if you would,” Whittaker said. “The idea was be first, attack, make him pay. If he comes forward, make him pay. If we’re standing there, if we’re in mid-range, make him pay. I think that’s half the reason the fight pace was as it was, because I was always in there, because to take a step backwards was to be cut off. Every time I took a step backwards, I was cut off, and I had to circle off, and that’s when he would go in and try to be heavy.”

A handful of middleweight contenders have made claims in recent weeks that they deserve a shot at reigning champion Israel Adesanya, but none have delivered performances as emphatic. After Saturday’s event, “The Last Stylebender” took to social media to acknowledge the result, albeit with a touch of condescension.

Whittaker, who ceded the belt to Adesanya in their October 2019 clash and has been working his way back to a rematch since, took the jab in stride.

“I’ve played video games my entire life; I am no stranger to trash talk,” Whittaker said. “And honestly, he gets to do it. He won the last fight between us both, so I guess it was coming, right? It’s just him being him, I guess.”

But make no mistake about it, Whittaker expects to fight Adesanya next, and with dominant wins over Gastelum, Jared Cannonier and Darren Till under his belt on the road back to a rematch, it certainly seems justified.

And Whittaker thinks doing it Down Under once again, in a sold-out stadium, would be a natural fit.

“I think the borders in New Zealand are the best they’ve ever been, so September, I think we can get a packed out stadium there and once again pump the industry down there and MMA as a whole,” Whittaker said.