{"id":368647,"date":"2024-02-18T04:45:04","date_gmt":"2024-02-18T05:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=368647"},"modified":"2024-02-18T07:03:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-18T07:03:25","slug":"whittaker-survives-early-scare-in-moment-of-redemption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=368647","title":{"rendered":"Whittaker survives early scare in moment of redemption"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former UFC<\/a> middleweight champion Robert Whittaker<\/a> has returned to the winner's circle after defeating Paulo Costa at UFC 298<\/a>.\ufeff<\/p>\n

The scorers judged the unanimous decision victory at 2\ufeff9-28 29-28 30-27, after a brutal three-round battle. <\/p>\n

The fight was Whittaker's first since losing to Dricus du Plessis on July 8, 2023<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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Whittaker had to withstand a number of heavy blows from the Brazilian, including a savage spinning leg kick at the end of the first round that left the 33-year-old stumbling. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Blood continued to pour from Whittaker's head during the fight as a result of the blow. He also suffered a poke in the eye during the second round which forced a time out. <\/p>\n

Despite the blows, the Aussie managed to stay composed throughout the fight, landing a number of shots including several leg kicks. <\/p>\n

"He's landing more shots and creating more damage," former UFC fighter Michael Bisping said on commentary during the third round. \ufeff\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\ufeffPost-fight, Whittaker explained there was significant expectation he'd put on himself before the battle. <\/p>\n

"This is the exact fight I prepared for, this is the fight I wanted … he's a tough dude," the Aussie said.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI put pressure on myself to perform after my last fight against Dricus [du Plessis].<\/p>\n

"I'm not going anywhere."<\/p>\n

As for the first-round head kick that almost ended it, Whittaker shrugged it off. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"Nothing but a flesh wound. It wasn't fun, but it was his best shot all night," he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker has returned to the winner's circle after defeating Paulo Costa at UFC 298.\ufeff The scorers judged the unanimous decision […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":368650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368647"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=368647"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":368656,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368647\/revisions\/368656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/368650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=368647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=368647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=368647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}