{"id":333358,"date":"2019-11-27T06:16:36","date_gmt":"2019-11-27T14:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=333358"},"modified":"2019-11-27T06:16:36","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T14:16:36","slug":"robert-whittaker-admits-he-didnt-really-like-being-ufc-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/robert-whittaker-admits-he-didnt-really-like-being-ufc-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Whittaker admits he &#8216;didn\u2019t really like&#8217; being UFC champion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s no secret that former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker is not a fan of the media obligations that coincide with being a top fighter.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on Ariel Helwani&#8217;s MMA Show on Monday, Whittaker admitted those obligations, along with other forms of pressure, made his time as a UFC titleholder a little unenjoyable.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Robert Whittaker on Israel Adesanya fight, wants Darren Till in London | Ariel Helwani\u2019s MMA Show\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ul_IXf7JL9M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I didn\u2019t really like it that much,&#8221; Whittaker admitted (via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/2019\/11\/26\/20984365\/ufc-robert-whittaker-didnt-really-like-being-ufc-champion-cons-were-distracting-mma\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MMA Mania<\/a>). &#8220;It\u2019s one of those things that, it comes with some pros, but the cons really starting distracting me. There\u2019s a lot of media, a lot of expectations and a lot of self-imposed pressure. It didn\u2019t agree with me super-well.<\/p>\n<p id=\"4zg2fh\">\u201cI\u2019ve always been the sort of guy who just likes to fight. I like the challenge, I like the next opponent. I like to work at just how am going to beat you. Another thing is, I love being the underdog. I love people just writing me off like, \u2018You\u2019re going to lose.\u2019 I love the struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Whittaker lost the title in October when he was knocked out by New Zealand&#8217;s Israel Adesanya.<\/p>\n<p>With the title no longer wrapped around his waist, he says his priority is taking things one fight at a time \u2014 which is precisely what won him the title in the first place.<\/p>\n<p id=\"iJFwOH\">\u201cThe biggest thing for me is that even through my journey in the division, that was never the objective,&#8221; Whittaker said.. &#8220;The title was never the objective, it was a result of it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"Xys34D\">\u201cI just focused one one fight after the next after the next. And I just enjoyed it, loved doing it. I am now hungrier than ever, honestly I can say that. I am excited for the next fight and I am excited for what the future brings for next year. And I just can\u2019t wait to get back in there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What do you think of these comments from Robert Whittaker? What do you think should be next for the former champ?<\/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 11\/27\/2019.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s no secret that former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker is not a fan of the media obligations that coincide with being a top fighter. Speaking on Ariel Helwani&#8217;s MMA Show on Monday, Whittaker admitted those obligations, along with other forms of pressure, made his time as a UFC titleholder a little unenjoyable. &#8220;I didn\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":327126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10582,39610],"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 admits he &#039;didn\u2019t really like&#039; being UFC champion | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker admits why he &#039;didn\u2019t really like&#039; his time wth a UFC belt around his waist.\" \/>\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\/ufc\/robert-whittaker-admits-he-didnt-really-like-being-ufc-champion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Robert Whittaker admits he &#039;didn\u2019t really like&#039; being UFC champion | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker admits why he &#039;didn\u2019t really like&#039; his time wth a UFC belt around his waist.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/robert-whittaker-admits-he-didnt-really-like-being-ufc-champion\/\" \/>\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=\"2019-11-27T14:16:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Robert-Whittaker-8.png\" \/>\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\/png\" \/>\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\/ufc\/robert-whittaker-admits-he-didnt-really-like-being-ufc-champion\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/robert-whittaker-admits-he-didnt-really-like-being-ufc-champion\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Robert Whittaker admits he &#8216;didn\u2019t really like&#8217; 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