Robert Whittaker is eyeing a return to the cage next year and looks to put himself in the position of partisan favorite against a fellow former UFC middleweight champion. The man known as Bobby Knuckles has recently referenced that he feels iced out of the UFC middleweight title scene after back-to-back losses to current champ Khamzat Chimaev and surging contender Reinier de Ridder.

That being said, Sean Strickland is a relevant fighter in the division without a dance partner and is someone who is also interwoven into the UFC’s 185-pound titleholder history. Appearing on the MMArcade Podcast and indicating what he wants next for an in-cage competitive assignment, Whittaker said [via Sportskeeda],

“I want to fight in Sydney next February. That’s when I’d like to fight next… I’d love to fight [Sean] Strickland. I’ve been wanting that fight for a while. I think it’d be a good fight. He always brings people to cards. I don’t think he’ll come all the way to Australia. But let’s see what happens.”

Robert Whittaker receives a response from Sean Strickland

Robert Whittaker did not have to wait long to receive a response from Sean Strickland, who has never been known to be shy about articulating his opinion aloud. X user Agent MMA relayed the Whittaker callout to Strickland, and the latter seemed to touch on a point that Whittaker addressed in the quote above.

Strickland is not someone who seems keen on fighting abroad going forward in his career and has even pointedly expressed issues with the Australian government previously. When responding to the X user who made him privy to the recent callout from ‘The Reaper’, Strickland stated,

“Never fighting out of America again lol.”

While Whittaker has his own aforementioned losing skid, Strickland also needs to bounce back to the win column. The last outing for Strickland saw him fall short in his bid for middleweight gold when he lost a second time to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312 in February.