Robert Whittaker has teamed up with top 10 lightweight contender Beneil Dariush ahead of his scheduled fight against Paulo Costa at UFC 298.
The former middleweight champion faces #6 in the world Paulo Costa this weekend in the co-main event of UFC 298, headlined by fellow Australian Alexander Volkanovski defending his Featherweight belt against the surging Ilia Topuria.
Despite being a sizable favorite, ‘The Reaper’ is taking no chances as he looks to avoid being handed his second consecutive loss since 2014, traveling to train with #7 lightweight Dariush in Anaheim, California.
‘To my surprise’ – Whittaker accepted Dariush’s late training offer
Speaking on the second episode of UFC 298 Embedded, Dariush revealed how Robert Whittaker and his team reached out in the weeks leading up to the PPV about training at King’s MMA, the gym that Dariush calls home.
“I was like ‘yeah of course’, and on top of that I was like ‘Hey if you guys need a body [to train with] I’m here and I’m available’ and to my surprise, they said yes.”
The ex-middleweight title holder shared how training at King’s MMA with the likes of Dariush has helped him prepare for what should be an exciting clash against an ever-dangerous Costa.
“We’ve been here for a week [and] at this point we’ve got everything done. The first week we were here, we trained a lot but second week [has] the work done, today was just about moving the blood around, keeping things moving and keeping things fresh. Sharpening the tools a little bit.”
Dariush is backing Whittaker to get the job done this weekend
Like many fans and pundits, Dariush is picking Whittaker to get the job done over Paulo Costa this weekend at UFC 298, saying that “the challenges that Rob brings, I don’t think he [Costa] will have an answer to.”
Whittaker is coming off a second-round KO loss to now-champ Dricus Du Plessis and hasn’t lost back-to-back UFC fights since 2014 – although both of those bouts were at welterweight, against Stephen Thompson and Court McGee.
Facing Whittaker this weekend will be Paulo Costa, who might be coming off a hard-fought win over Luke Rockhold but due to two canceled bouts with Khamzat Chimaev, hasn’t stepped foot inside the cage since 2022.
Robert Whittaker vs Paulo Costa takes place this weekend at UFC 298.