{"id":279768,"date":"2018-07-02T05:54:19","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T12:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=279768"},"modified":"2018-07-02T05:54:19","modified_gmt":"2018-07-02T12:54:19","slug":"robert-whittaker-eyeing-title-defense-against-chris-weidman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/robert-whittaker\/robert-whittaker-eyeing-title-defense-against-chris-weidman\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Whittaker eyeing title defense against Chris Weidman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the last few weeks, middleweight contenders <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chris-weidman\/chris-weidman-and-kelvin-gastelum-exchange-barbs-over-next-middleweight-title-shot\/\">Kelvin Gastelum and Chris Weidman have been verbally sparring<\/a> over who deserves the next middleweight title shot. Now, UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker&#8217;s team seems to have decided for them.<\/p>\n<p>According to Whittaker&#8217;s manager Titus Day, Whittaker is hoping to defend his title against the former champion Weidman at UFC 231 in November, which is expected to occur inside Madison Square Garden in Weidman&#8217;s native New York.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMadison Square Garden is a possibility,\u201d Day told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailytelegraph.com.au\/sport\/aussie-ufc-middleweight-champ-robert-whittaker-eyes-title-defence-at-madison-square-garden\/news-story\/28f8ea9319f4c2502eaea6fdeb192930\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Daily Telegraph<\/a> of Whittaker&#8217;s next fight, insisting Whittaker&#8217;s broken hand should be healed by then.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRob\u2019s the middleweight champ and his last two fights have been wars. So if his hand heals up as quickly as we\u2019re hoping, we would definitely push for him to compete at the greatest fight arena in the world. And Chris Weidman, as the former champ, would be a perfect rival for that fight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve spoken to Rob this week and he definitely wants to be ready by the end of the year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis surgery went well, it was a clean break which is the best you can get, and there doesn\u2019t seem to have been any complications. So if all goes well, we\u2019ll definitely look at that New York card. It\u2019s traditionally one of the biggest on the UFC calendar and after the way Rob has won his last two fights over in the States, there is huge interest in him now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Whittaker last fought in June, when he captured a hard-fought decision from the<a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/robert-whittaker\/robert-whittaker-comments-on-yoel-romeros-magic-physical-changes-between-first-and-second-fights\/\"> fearsome<\/a> Yoel Romero in <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/the-bjpenn-com-half-year-mma-awards-2018\/\">a 2018 Fight of the Year contender.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Weidman, meanwhile, has recently been nursing an injury. He hasn&#8217;t fought since July of 2017, when he submitted Gastelum in the third round of an exciting fight.<\/p>\n<p>At present, no fights have been booked for the UFC&#8217;s return to Madison Square Garden, but as Day suggests, it&#8217;s likely to be one of the biggest cards of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Do you want to see Robert Whittaker and Chris Weidman fight at MSG?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>BJPenn.com<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0on 7\/2\/2018. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the last few weeks, middleweight contenders Kelvin Gastelum and Chris Weidman have been verbally sparring over who deserves the next middleweight title shot. Now, UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker&#8217;s team seems to have decided for them. According to Whittaker&#8217;s manager Titus Day, Whittaker is hoping to defend his title against the former champion Weidman [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":279769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10582],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Robert Whittaker eyeing title defense against Chris Weidman | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/robert-whittaker\/robert-whittaker-eyeing-title-defense-against-chris-weidman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Robert Whittaker eyeing title defense against Chris Weidman | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over the last few weeks, middleweight contenders Kelvin Gastelum and Chris Weidman have been verbally sparring over who deserves the next middleweight title shot. Now, UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker&#8217;s team seems to have decided for them. According to Whittaker&#8217;s manager Titus Day, Whittaker is hoping to defend his title against the former champion Weidman [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/robert-whittaker\/robert-whittaker-eyeing-title-defense-against-chris-weidman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-02T12:54:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Robert-Whittaker-Chris-Weidman.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/robert-whittaker\/robert-whittaker-eyeing-title-defense-against-chris-weidman\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/robert-whittaker\/robert-whittaker-eyeing-title-defense-against-chris-weidman\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Robert Whittaker eyeing title defense against Chris Weidman\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-02T12:54:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-02T12:54:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/robert-whittaker\/robert-whittaker-eyeing-title-defense-against-chris-weidman\/\"},\"wordCount\":355,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Robert Whittaker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/robert-whittaker\/robert-whittaker-eyeing-title-defense-against-chris-weidman\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/robert-whittaker\/robert-whittaker-eyeing-title-defense-against-chris-weidman\/\",\"name\":\"Robert Whittaker eyeing title defense against Chris Weidman | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-02T12:54:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-02T12:54:19+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/robert-whittaker\/robert-whittaker-eyeing-title-defense-against-chris-weidman\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/robert-whittaker\/robert-whittaker-eyeing-title-defense-against-chris-weidman\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/robert-whittaker\/robert-whittaker-eyeing-title-defense-against-chris-weidman\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Robert Whittaker\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/robert-whittaker\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Robert Whittaker eyeing title defense against Chris Weidman\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; 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