Robert Whittaker and Tai Tuivasa shared a laugh when a fan had some harsh words for Paulo Costa.
UFC 284 goes down on February 11 in Perth, Australia. Whittaker was initially expected to fight in the co-main event against Costa with tons of support from the Australian fans. Unfortunately, the Brazilian scrapped the middleweight matchup because he wants more money from the UFC before competing again.
Whittaker, Tuivasa, Kai Kara-France, and Kyle Noke were featured in a Q&A session during the UFC 284 fight week. Things started to get out of hand as a fan asked ‘The Reaper’ this question:
“When are you gonna get your hands on [Paulo] Costa and knock that b*tch out?”
The entire panel found the question amusing, but Whittaker still gave an honest answer:
“I wanted to get my hands on him this weekend. That was the plan. I was so excited for that fight. I had a lot of plans for it. I thought it would have been a really killer stellar fight. I would’ve put on a killer show for you guys, but it is what it is.”
The fan ended the entertaining exchange by saying:
“He’s a f*cking p*ssy. F*ck that c*nt”
Watch Robert Whittaker and Tai Tuivasa laugh off the question about Paulo Costa below:
Robert Whittaker is unsure of what’s next for him at middleweight
On April 8, Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya will have their rematch bout for the UFC middleweight championship. Now that Robert Whittaker likely won’t be fighting Paulo Costa next, it’s unclear what’s next for him as the number two-ranked contender.
During an interview with MMAFighting, ‘The Reaper’ had this to say about fighting either the winner of Pereira/Adesanya or Khamzat Chimaev:
“It’s a weird place, he’s [Chimaev] not even arranged middleweight right now. Umm… there’s a lot of guys in front of him, but then I’m in a funny position where I’m looking for a big fight. I’m just lurking at, you know the border of Adesanya-Pereira trying to get my hands on either one of them. So, yeah we have to wait and see.”
Whittaker’s next fight could change depending on the outcome between Pereira and Adesanya. ‘The Last Stylebender’ has two wins against ‘The Reaper,’ making the matchup less intriguing than a new opponent in ‘Poatan.’ Meanwhile, Chimaev is planning to make a permanent move to middleweight, which could place him in a number-one contender fight against the 32-year-old former UFC champion.