Robert Whittaker was seen as a serviceable welterweight when he joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster as the last man standing on “The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes” in 2012, but a move to 185 pounds some two years later forever altered the trajectory of his career.
Whittaker rattled off nine consecutive victories at one point, emerged as an unlikely star and went on to claim the undisputed middleweight championship. The 29-year-old Australia-based Kiwi saw his run interrupted, first by by health issues—he endured a bout with a serious staph infection and underwent emergency abdominal surgery—and then by Israel Adesanya’s meteoric rise to power.