According to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and light heavyweight Johnny Walker will be making their way back into the Octagon in March 2020, with both coming in following critical losses.
It is rumoured that Bobby Knuckles could be making his return against the number four ranked middleweight, Jared Cannonier, with a target date of March 7th in mind. It would be an interesting matchup for Whittaker as Cannonier is unbeaten in his three fights at middleweight, including a win over Andserson Silva.
Whittaker faces tough battle
Johnny Walker could be looking to bounce back from his last fight against Nikita Krylov, who has had a less than satisfactory start to his UFC career. It should be a good enough fight to get Walker back on track, following his loss to Corey Anderson at UFC 244 last month. Being hyped as the golden boy to take down Jon Jones before this loss, a win here is crucial if Walker wants to get his hopes of a title shot running again.
According to Helwani the Walker fight is all but done, just needed an official announcement from the UFC, while Whittaker is more excited at the prospect of facing Darren Till at UFC London on March 21st.
Till vs Whittaker would be one hell of a matchup, following Till’s victory over Kelvin Gastellum in his UFC middleweight debut. A win in that fight could vault either man back into the title picture, with Kamaru Usman set to take on Colby Covington for the welterweight gold at next weekend’s UFC 245.
We’ll be keeping an eye out for any further news on when Whittaker will be making his return to the Octagon.
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