Former Middleweight Champ Robert Whittaker hints at UFC returning to Perth this August

The UFC may make it’s way back to Australia as soon as August, with a rumoured return to Perth on the cards, as revealed by former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker.

“I’ve heard through the grapevine that there’s a Perth card in August, perhaps. I would love to get on that,” Whittaker said in a recent interview with Submission Radio.

The UFC was last in Perth in February 2023, and was main evented by former featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski as he went up a weight class to challenge for the lightweight title.

Whittaker was scheduled to fight on that card, however his opponent, Paulo Costa, had not signed the bout agreement, forcing the contest off the card.

“I think I owe Perth a fight. I owe Australia a fight, so to able to do that would be the bees knees,” he said.

Now he has defeated Costa at UFC 298 last month in California, Whittaker is eyeing up a match up with former champion Sean Strickland as he looks to get back to the title.

“That’s the logical move to make. I want to fight for the title, right? I understand that’s a bit of a long whatever at this point. And Sean doesn’t look like he’s tied up, so it is the logical step.”

The UFC did enter a deal with the New South Wales government to bring three events to Sydney over the next four years, starting with UFC 293 last year, however, the UFC is able to bring events to states other than NSW in that time period.

Perth was home to WWE’s Elimination Chamber in February, which saw fans of professional wrestling from around the state and the world arrive in Perth to enjoy the show.

Both UFC and WWE are now owned by the same parent company, TKO group, when the two entertainment powerhouses merged in September 2023.

Image Credit: UFC