MMA legend St-Pierre hails Aussie UFC champ Whittaker as “perfect human being”
Related Story: Australia's Robert Whittaker wins UFC interim middleweight title
Two Australian combat sports stars are fighting to defend world titles this weekend, but while boxer Jeff Horn receives mainstream Australian media attention, Robert Whittaker garners just a fraction of the love.
Whittaker is the UFC's middleweight world champion and one of the most dangerous men inside the octagon. On Sunday (AEST) he will put his title on the line against Cuba's Yoel Romero in Chicago.
External Link: Leno tweet: #TBT Robert Whittaker vs Yoel Romero 1 #UFC225
Mixed Martial Arts legend Georges St-Pierre vacated the middleweight title last year, before Sydneysider Whittaker — who was born in New Zealand — won the interim crown with a unanimous points decision over Romero in Las Vegas.
St-Pierre told the ABC that Whittaker deserves to be adored in Australia.
"You cannot have a better athlete and role model than this and he's from Australia," St-Pierre said.
"A lot of people, they kind of don't know about him. But man, the guy is like the perfect human being, the perfect athlete — you cannot have a more perfect guy than this."
St-Pierre is arguably the most accomplished UFC fighter of all time.
The 37-year-old has been involved in some of the bloodiest bouts in the sport's professional history, defended his welterweight world title nine successive times, and was named as Canadian Athlete of the Year on three occasions.
He's also headed to Australia in August to meet with his legion of fans, teach some MMA seminars and share the wisdom of his success with the corporate and fighting communities alike.
St-Pierre confirms plans to fight again
St-Pierre was pencilled in to fight Whittaker last year but injuries and fitness concerns have briefly pushed him away from fighting.
He's currently trying to recover from a stomach ulcer but says when he's better he'll be targeting another high-profile fight.
"It won't be in the summer though because right now I need more time to get rid of the symptoms that I have," he said.
"If I want to go back in training camp, all those symptoms need to be gone, because training camp, the stress of it, it amplifies everything. So I want to make sure everything is gone and then I can go back 100 per cent."
While he recovers though, St-Pierre is enjoying watching Whittaker carry the middleweight torch, and he thinks the Australian will successfully defend his title this weekend against Romero.
"I think Whittaker can win, absolutely," St-Pierre said.
"It's going to be like a chess game, it's two clashes of styles.
"It's going to be who's going to be able to bring his opponent outside of his comfort zone and implement his style, will probably have more chance to win."
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ABC .net
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