Former UFC champion Robert Whittaker was unable to reclaim the title at UFC 271.
Whittaker suffered a loss to Israel Adesanya for the middleweight belt in the main event.
For Whittaker, though, now is the time to regroup and work towards the future.
“Yeah, I guess it’s been funny because there’s that underlying current of disappointment that I didn’t get the nod, that I didn’t walk away with the W, as I believe I should have,” Whittaker said in an interview with Submission Radio. “But in saying that, on the back of it though, I’m very… like, I have that satisfied feeling, cause I went in there and I took it to him and I believe I made a great account of myself. And yeah, I really, really took it to him.
“Really, really took it to him. To the point where, yeah, I don’t know, I’m satisfied with my performance. I want more from it. You know, I think every fighter does. I don’t think a fighter goes into a fight and be like, ‘well, that’s the best you’ll ever see of me’. But it’s one of those things, coming off that first fight with him, changing things up, I improved, I evolved, and I went in there and I gave it to him.”
Whittaker believes a third meeting is “inevitable” between the two.
“Me and Israel had respect for each other,” he said. “We both got in there and we gave a really good fight. We left it all there for everyone to watch and to enjoy, and I respect him for that, and you can see he respects me for that.”