Strickland's trainer: "Why doesn't Shawn fight Whittaker?"

Eric Niksik, trainer of the former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland, expressed interest in a fight between his ward and another ex-title holder Robert Whittaker.

“Whitatker is one of the best middleweights in the history of the sport. I think if it weren't for Israel Adesanya, Robert would have held this title for a long period of time.

So Shawn is in a position where he can maximize his value, so why shouldn't he fight Whittaker? He hasn't suffered any serious injuries other than the fight with Alex Pereira, so he's relatively healthy. He’s still in the gym, he’s still training hard and doing everything he should,” MMA Junkie quotes the specialist as saying.