{"id":482063,"date":"2025-12-03T20:46:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T21:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=482063"},"modified":"2025-12-03T22:21:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T22:21:05","slug":"burnout-is-real-sixth-child-puts-redemption-on-backburner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=482063","title":{"rendered":"'Burnout is real': Sixth child puts redemption on backburner"},"content":{"rendered":"

R\ufeffobert Whittaker<\/a> has admitted to feeling burnt out after suffering back-to-back UFC<\/a> losses, with the Australian star's return to the octagon still unclear.<\/p>\n

The former middleweight world champion has tasted defeat at the hands of Khamzat Chimaev<\/a> \ufeffand Reinier de Ridder<\/a>, with the latter coming via a devastating split decision.<\/p>\n

Whittaker has not fought since the July setback and has since stepped away from training, leading to question marks over his future in the sport.<\/p>\n

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\ufeffThe 34-year-old's career has seemingly been winding down for the past few years and speaking with Nine's Today during his time off, Whittaker conceded he needed a break to spend time with his family after the recent birth of his sixth child.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I jumped back into the gym [after losing to de Ridder] and started moving around and I realised burnout is real," the Auckland-born fighter said.<\/p>\n

"I started feeling that burnout, feeling like things needed to change. I wasn't really happy with the prep last time and I wasn't enjoying it as much as I had.<\/p>\n

"So I was like you know what, I'm gonna step aside from the game and have a bit of a break and just be there, especially with my wife so close to labour. Every other time, I have been in camp during labour \u2026 this time, I have been in full dad mode.<\/p>\n

"It's been great for me, my soul feels reinvigorated and I feel hungry again."<\/p>\n

Whittaker \ufeff(26-9) remains one of only three Aussies to capture gold in the sport's top promotion, with Alexander Volkanovski<\/a> and Jack Della Maddalena<\/a> the others.<\/p>\n

Volkanovski is slated to defend his featherweight title against Diego Lopes in Sydney next year and when asked if he would be part of the February pay-per-view, Whittaker was quick to dismiss any chance of competing in front of his home fans.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"Not in February, I don't think there's enough time for me to prepare properly," he said.<\/p>\n

"I am going to be there, lurking around with Volk headlining. It's an Australian card, so there's going to be a lot of Australian fighters and I cannot wait, it's gonna be awesome."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Whittaker is still ranked inside the top-10 at middleweight, with a long-awaited clash against the polarising Sean Strickland a potential option when he does return.\ufeff<\/p>\n

But for now, Whittaker is enjoying life as a dad – just don't expect any more kids.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffDefinitely not, we were happy with two," he said.<\/p>\n

"She's an absolute weapon, I couldn't be prouder of her. My family is growing and everyone is happy, all the kids are old enough to care \u2026 it's amazing."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

R\ufeffobert Whittaker has admitted to feeling burnt out after suffering back-to-back UFC losses, with the Australian star's return to the octagon still unclear. The former […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":482065,"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\/482063"}],"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=482063"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":482067,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482063\/revisions\/482067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/482065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=482063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=482063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=482063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}