What's next for Robert Whittaker after UFC 271?

As the dust settles on UFC 271 in Houston, most of the MMA world is left pondering what is next for Israel Adesanya, who did enough to fend off the challenge of his biggest rival to date, earning a unanimous decision over Australia’s Robert Whittaker.

But what of his fallen foe?

Robert Whittaker. The Reaper. Bobby Knuckles. Whatever you call him (and I for one will only ever recognise Bobby Knuckles as his nickname), he finds himself in a tough spot.

This loss was his second to Adesanya, following a second-round stoppage on home turf at UFC 243.

Whittaker, like welterweight Colby Covington and featherweight Max Holloway, now finds himself in the unenviable position of having two consecutive losses to the current champ, which typically spells the end of any title aspirations as long as the champ stays put.

In fact, in UFC history, only two trilogies have taken place where one fighter has lost the first two (Tito Ortiz vs Ken Shamrock and Frankie Edgar vs BJ Penn).

So what now for Whittaker? The way I see it, he has three options.

1. Move up in weight
As fighters age, the weight cut only gets tougher, so it is not uncommon to see a fighter move up in weight once they hit the wrong side of 30 and encounter some adversity.

In this case though, Whittaker started his career as a welterweight before finding his home at middleweight. At six feet tall, he is no giant in the middleweight division and a move to light-heavyweight to hang with the big boys may be a bridge too far.

2. Move down in weight
The 170-pound division has a dominant champion, with a clear number one contender. Sounds a lot like the middleweight division, actually.

Whittaker could likely talk UFC President Dana White into a title shot at the lower weight-class and pose a more interesting match-up for champ Kamaru Usman than many of the current crop of contenders.

Unfortunately, Whittaker did not have the best run at welterweight, going 3-2 prior to his middleweight debut. He is undoubtedly a better fighter now than he was then and a match-up with Usman would be intriguing.

3. Play the spoiler of every other hopeful’s chances
Or, as it should be known, pulling a Holloway. Featherweight Max Holloway has been destroying the dreams of title hopefuls since losing two close decisions to current champ Alexander Volkanovski. Despite losing two decisions to the current champ, Holloway was booked for the trilogy before injury intervened.

Middleweight is Whittaker’s home. He has earned his place there and the respect that goes with it. I say own it and be so good they cannot ignore you.

Divisions such as lightweight are so deep that a loss in a title bout can send you to the back of a long queue. In contrast, the current middleweight title picture seems to be Adesanya first, Whittaker second and daylight filling out the top five. It is not inconceivable that Whittaker could make his case for a third run at the champ in just a couple of fights.

Could Bobby Knuckles put on a run to rival Holloway? Could he be the Reaper to the title hopes of the rest of the division? And could he do it all in convincing enough fashion to earn a shot at Adesanya while there is still time?

I don’t know, but it sure would be fun to find out.