We often hear of ‘Octagon jitters’ plaguing fighters before they step foot in the cage but that wasn’t the case for Australian welterweight Robert Whittaker. The heavily favorite wasted no time to start clipping Brad Scott on the chin, sending him crashing to the floor and being seconds away from finishing early.
Scott weathered the early storm and looked to implement a wrestling-heavy game working against the cage and fishing for takedowns but Whittaker was hard to get down, and even harder to keep down so he had to get his boxing going to win the second frame.
Scott found success with his shots, active with his jab and setting up his overhand right but Whittaker was leading the charge with his shots and firing off with his high-kick on several occasions and lambasting the Brit with charging shots in the finale frame.
“This is amazing” Whittaker said “The moment I walked out into the arena I felt it – the crowd, the energy – I felt it in my heart and from that moment I knew already that I was going to win. I knew Brad wouldn’t be able to handle my power and that proved the difference between us. I knew he couldn’t keep on walking into my punches, but I just had to keep up the pressure as much as I could. In the third round, there was no way I was going down. It’s my birthday in five days from now, so this is an early present to myself. The only way from here is up.”
