Robert Whittaker is plotting his return to the Octagon, with a shock move up to light heavyweight on the cards.
Whittaker, who held the middleweight belt in 2017, is coming off a two-fight skid that has derailed his title ambitions.
Now 35, the Aussie MMA star is weighing up a move to 205 pounds for his next fight in 2026.
“I want to get back in there next year,” Whittaker explained on his MMA Arcade podcast.
“I don’t know how I want to do it. I’ll be working on some new skill sets and working on some new things.
“Wanna get in there probably by mid-next year. I don’t know if it will be at middleweight.
“I’m actually playing with the idea [about a move to light heavyweight]. Potentially.
“I’m a bigger guy now. Everyone’s going to say, ‘Oh, he’s too short!’ They’re taller than me here [at middleweight], what’s the difference? Everyone’s got height on me anyway. Everyone’s got reach on me anyway.
“I think I might as well just try something else, you know? I don’t know, thinking about playing with the idea, but that is Next Year Rob’s problem.”
It would still be a big shift for Whittaker, who first broke into the UFC as a welterweight after coming through The Ultimate Fighter in 2012.
He had some success at 170 pounds, but it was at middleweight where everything really clicked for the Sydneysider, stringing together eight straight wins and claiming UFC gold.
That run ended in 2019 with a knockout loss to Israel Adesanya, and he hasn’t been able to work his way back to the belt since.
Even so, Whittaker has racked up quality wins at middleweight, beating the likes of Darren Till, Jared Cannonier, and Paulo Costa along the way.
At 1.83 metres (6 feet tall), Whittaker would be on the shorter side at light heavyweight, but he’s hardly the first to make it work.
Daniel Cormier, at around 1.80m, thrived at 205 with his wrestling, strength and pressure, while Randy Couture, also about 1.83m, showed that a smaller frame can still get the job done by outworking bigger men on the way to a Hall of Fame career.
Last week, Whittaker also revealed he has an interest in boxing once his UFC career comes to an end.
With fighters such as Anderson Silva, Nate Diaz and Tony Ferguson already making the leap from the Octagon to the boxing ring, he hopes he could one day follow the same path.
“Yeah, it interests me for sure, certainly,” Whittaker said.
“It definitely interests me, especially not actually having to go through the boxing circuit the way a lot of guys did.
“If I can move straight up to these … UFC guys coming into boxing doing those sort of fights. You know what I’m talking about.
Whittaker hasn’t announced his next opponent yet, but he has made it clear he’d welcome a showdown with former champion Sean Strickland at the White House in June.
“I would love to fight Sean Strickland in front of the White House,” Whittaker told Fox Sports Australia in October.
“For one, I think it’s going to be a monumental occasion. When are you ever going to be able to fight in front of the White House ever again?
“But I’ve been trying to fight Sean for the longest of times.
“Just because I like that fight.”
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“We’ve been in the same circles for a while.
“He’s still ranked three, which puts me right back into a Aussie UFC star teases bombshell career move; reveals timeline for 2026 return conversation I want to be part of.”