“Let’s take justice out of the equation right away – life isn’t fair, right?” the Australian said on another edition of The MMA Hour program. “But I think an immediate rematch of Izzy would be foolish because it’s not his first defeat as champion.”
“Technically, he didn’t even defend the belt. He lost to Alex Pereira, regained the title, and lost again. And you have to ask yourself: is the idea to give him rematches every time he loses?”
“This situation puts the UFC in a difficult position because Izzy is one of their benchmarks, he’s one of their cover guys. But yeah, I think he has some things to work on.”
Whittaker believes it’s worth considering the opinion of the division’s current champion when choosing the next title challenger.
“Honestly, I think Strickland’s opinion should carry some weight. He put up a tremendous upsets and took the fight relatively late. I guess his opinion as champion should be taken into consideration.”
As a reminder, the middleweight title fight headlining UFC 293 in Sydney last weekend went the full distance and ended in a 49-46 three-round unanimous decision victory for Sean Strickland.