{"id":277792,"date":"2018-06-04T12:38:16","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T19:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=277792"},"modified":"2018-06-04T14:07:34","modified_gmt":"2018-06-04T21:07:34","slug":"robert-whittaker-is-happy-he-never-had-to-fight-michael-bisping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/robert-whittaker\/robert-whittaker-is-happy-he-never-had-to-fight-michael-bisping\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Whittaker is happy he never had to fight Michael Bisping"},"content":{"rendered":"

When former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping announced his retirement late last month, he closed the door on a number of exciting potential matchups. There’s the fight between Bisping and his rival Yoel Romero<\/a>, which we never got to see. There’s the much discussed trilogy fight between Bisping and Luke Rockhold, who are tied 1-1 across to fights. There are other fights between Bisping and stars like Lyoto Machida, Chris Weidman and Jacare Souza. And then, of course, there’s the potential fight between Bisping and the reigning UFC middleweight king, Robert Whittaker.<\/p>\n

Bisping and Whittaker looked destined to collide at several points throughout their respective careers. They were, of course, briefly scheduled to fight at UFC 193, until Bisping was forced out of the matchup an injury. Then, there was the short period during which Bisping was the undisputed middleweight champion and Whittaker was interim champion, when they also seemed to be on a collision course.<\/p>\n

In the end, however, Whittaker and Bisping never crossed paths. In the opinion of Whittaker, that’s just fine. In fact, it’s a good thing, because he’s a big Bisping fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s a true warrior. I really do. He\u2019s done it all. He\u2019s lost, he\u2019s won, and he\u2019s become champion. He\u2019s a true test of endurance and determination. I really do, I think a lot of people can learn a thing or two watching his career,\u201d Whittaker said last week on the UFC 225 media conference call (via\u00a0MMA Fighting<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of fighting him, from one fighter to another, there\u2019s a lot of respect in terms of wanting to fight each other,” he said. “There would\u2019ve been a lot of respect there and a lot of honor earned, but I\u2019m happy not to have fought him, just due to the fact that I\u2019ve always watched him and, if I\u2019m going to be honest with myself, I\u2019m a bit of a fan of his, to be honest.”<\/p>\n

Robert Whittaker will next step into the cage this weekend, when he will attempt to defend his title opposite Yoel Romero in the main event of UFC 225<\/a>.<\/p>\n