Robert Whittaker talks potential Magomed Ankalaev fight, Paulo Costa UFC rematch, fighting teammates, and more

Robert Whittaker has suggested that he'd like to fight former UFC light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev. 

Whittaker also alluded to the speculation concerning a possible rematch between himself and Brazil's Paulo Costa at light heavyweight. The two combatants clashed back when they both competed in the middleweight division in 2024, with "The Reaper" defeating Costa via unanimous decision. 

Robert Whittaker names Magomed Ankalaev as potential opponent; addresses Jan Blachowicz, Bogdan Guskov, and Paulo Costa matchups

Robert Whittaker initially competed as a welterweight in his MMA career, even winning the UFC's "The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes" tournament at 170 pounds. He subsequently faced welterweight veterans Court McGee and Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, losing to both. Whittaker then outpointed Mike Rhodes and later moved up to middleweight. 

The striking savant soon found a home in the 185-pound division, working his way up to capturing the interim UFC middleweight belt before ultimately being promoted to become the undisputed UFC middleweight champion. 

However, his title reign ended via knockout in his first encounter against Israel Adesanya back in 2019. Whittaker experienced a few ups and downs since then and ended his middleweight stint with a pair of setbacks -- a submission loss against Khamzat Chimaev in 2024 and a split decision defeat against Reinier de Ridder last year. 

The New Zealand-born Australian athlete made his UFC light heavyweight divisional debut at UFC 329 on July 11, which saw him stop 205-pound veteran Nikita Krylov via third-round TKO courtesy of a few thunderous punches to his jaw. 

Robert Whittaker has now appeared on an edition of Michael Bisping's Believe You Me podcast, welcomed by Bisping and fellow UFC fighter-turned-commentator Paul Felder. 

Bisping, who, incidentally, was once the UFC middleweight champion and on the verge of fighting then-interim UFC middleweight champion Whittaker in a title unification matchup, praised the Aussie fighter's recent resurgence. 

"The Count" asked what's next for Whittaker, to which the latter responded by emphasizing that he'd like to fight Magomed Ankalaev. Dagestan's Ankalaev has caught a lot of flak for his recent octagon outing. Regardless, Whittaker stated: 

"It's hard to say. Like, I'd love to get in there with, like, 'Ank' (Magomed Ankalaev). I'd love to get in there with Jan (Blachowicz); just had a loss, but I would have loved to have jumped in there with him. Then, Bogdan (Guskov) would've been great. Like, anyone up (the rankings)." 

He continued by scoffing at the prospect of a rematch against Paulo Costa at light heavyweight, saying, "Like, people keep throwing the name (Paulo) Costa out there. But I fought him before. There's a lot of other guys to fight as well." 

All in all, Whittaker indicated that Bogdan Guskov's TKO defeat against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC Abu Dhabi on July 25, as well as Jan Blachowicz's TKO loss against Navajo Stirling at UFC Belgrade on August 1, cast them out of his list of possible opponents for the time being. 

Robert Whittaker discusses teammates Carlos Ulberg and Navajo Stirling fighting at light heavyweight, reaffirms intentions of facing Magomed Ankalaev

Robert Whittaker has lately undergone a considerable amount of his training on his longtime archrival Israel Adesanya's former home turf, the world-renowned CKB (City Kickboxing) gym in Auckland.

Adesanya recently exited CKB after 16 years there, but Whittaker still has other elite fighters like Carlos Ulberg and Navajo Stirling who train alongside him at CKB. 

The 35-year-old addressed the fan speculation surrounding his potentially taking on Ulberg or Stirling. Whittaker implied that he'd rather not fight his teammates, but they might end up fighting inside the octagon if it's for a top-contender spot or UFC title. 

He explained, "I won't fight the boys that I train with. You know, if we reach a point where we're one, two, and three -- with me, Carlos (Ulberg), and 'Nav' (Navajo Stirling) -- then I'm sure we can all sit down and find a way to get paid bank, bank." 

Whittaker laughed and added, "But nah, like, there's a lot of people to fight. You know, I've still got some work to do for myself in the rankings. I'm enjoying the progression. I'm enjoying coming up and going through the rankings again. It feels like a new chapter because of that."

Presently, Whittaker is ranked No. 11 in the UFC light heavyweight division on the official Meta UFC rankings, whereas Stirling is No. 7, and Ulberg is the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion who's recovering from a knee injury. 

As such, many believe that Whittaker or another popular light heavyweight could propel themselves into an interim light heavyweight championship fight.

Later in their conversation on the BYM podcast, Whittaker asserted that a fight against Ankalaev "in December" and a win therein would surely catapult him into a title matchup at light heavyweight. 

Watch Robert Whittaker discuss his possible next opponent and more below (*comments at the 1:23:20 and 1:27:37-minute marks of the video):