Robert Whittaker says 205 debut at UFC 329 felt like middleweight

LAS VEGAS – Robert Whittaker met the media Saturday after his win over Nikita Krylov at UFC 329.

Whittaker (27-9 MMA, 18-7 UFC) put away Krylov (31-12 MMA, 12-10 UFC) with a third-round TKO to close out the prelims at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Whittaker was making his UFC debut at light heavyweight after spending his entire tenure with the promotion heretofore at middleweight – including a stint as champion.

“Everything that could go right did go right. I can’t express to you how good I feel,” Whittaker said at his post-fight news conference. “There was a lot of nerves going into this. Who hasn’t seen the story of a middleweight after two losses moving up to light heavyweight and then sliding into oblivion? I didn’t want to be that guy.”

Now there’s no chance of that. And in fact, at light heavyweight, things are in enough of a perpetual state of craziness the past few years in the UFC that anything’s possible.

The 35-year-old Whittaker, who snapped a two-fight skid, can’t even rule out the possibility he’s smack dab in title contention at 205 pounds after the win over Krylov.

“I feel like the division is a buffet,” Whittaker said. “I wanted someone ranked out of the gate. A lot of questions have been answered. I feel like there was a lot of doubters out there. There were a lot of people that had questions, a lot of people who wanted to see what the transition looked like, me going up. I think I silenced those guys and put my case forward.

“… Winning opens doors, and I have won, and the doors are open. I’m going to go enjoy myself and then get back to training because I don’t want to start at zero again. I started this camp at zero, and that wasn’t fun. I didn’t take too much damage. Maybe by the end of the year we’ll get back in, keep moving up the ladder, keep progressing.”

Check out Whittaker’s post-fight interview in the video above.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Robert Whittaker says 205 debut at UFC 329 felt like middleweight