{"id":42665,"date":"2021-03-09T01:43:15","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T02:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=42665"},"modified":"2021-03-09T06:57:08","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T06:57:08","slug":"ufc-star-says-gallen-money-fight-could-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=42665","title":{"rendered":"UFC star says Gallen 'money fight' could happen"},"content":{"rendered":"

UFC middleweight Rob Whittaker hasn't ruled out a future fight against Paul Gallen, after the ex-NRL great called him out late last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whittaker's management said in December that the former middleweight champion would be interested<\/a>, and the man himself has now revealed that as long as the price is right, it could happen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I'm already in the fight game … If it's a money fight I'll do it, if not I'll just keep doing my day job," he told reporters after a five-round sparring session with undefeated Aussie boxer Tim Tszyu at the latter's Rockdale facility.<\/p>\n

The pair have been sparring together for the past couple of weeks, as fans salivate over the prospect of the UFC star taking on the ex-Sharks skipper.<\/p>\n

Whittaker said there had been contact between the camps after Gallen's win over Hunt, but that they couldn't get things organised before his UFC Fight Night clash with Paulo Costa was confirmed for April.<\/p>\n

"Maybe the opportunity will present itself afterwards, we'll have to wait and see," he said.<\/p>\n

Whittaker was in the gym with 26-year-old Tszyu ahead of the boxing star's fight with Dennis Hogan later this month.<\/p>\n

"Iron sharpens iron," Whittaker said of his sparring partner.<\/p>\n

\"Illegal<\/p>\n

"To get in there with his speed and reactions and presence in the ring … it's great for my eyes and my reaction speed.<\/p>\n

"It was great, he's so quick. He just fills the space so well."<\/p>\n

Tszyu was equally effusive in his praise of Whittaker.<\/p>\n

"He's unorthodox, he comes with different angles but he's got power in both hands. He moves good and it's great to have a guy in front of you with the experience like that," he said.<\/p>\n

Despite Whittaker's 15kg weight advantage, Tszyu said the experience had been invaluable.<\/p>\n

"With weight, I'm not really concerned about that. As long as I can get good rounds, and he gives me great rounds," Tszyu said.<\/p>\n

\"Blachowicz<\/p>\n

"It's helping both of us out."<\/p>\n

The undefeated Australian will face Ireland's Hogan at the end of the month, despite fears that a nose injury for the Irishman would delay the fight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"I don't focus on Hogan – I think he needed more time, that's why he came up with some excuse," Tszyu said.<\/p>\n

"Everything's going to plan. I'm pumping the rounds through now, I'm feeling fit, I'm feeling strong."<\/p>\n

But will it be a repeat of his last fight, which only got halfway through the first round?<\/p>\n

"For me, one round, I was pretty happy with that – I wasn't sore the next day. What I can promise to my fans is that I'm going to give it my best, I'll be in the best shape of my career and that can only end with one option."<\/p>\n

He said that he believed a world title shot was "one fight away," and when asked if he watched the recent WBO light middleweight title fight between Brian Castano and Anthony Texiera, Tszyu was blunt in his assessment.<\/p>\n

"I'd beat both. They're both tough boys, but I feel like I'd have the upper hand."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking<\/em><\/strong> here<\/em><\/strong><\/a>!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UFC middleweight Rob Whittaker hasn't ruled out a future fight against Paul Gallen, after the ex-NRL great called him out late last year. Whittaker's management […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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\/42665"}],"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=42665"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42667,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42665\/revisions\/42667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}