Robert Whittaker will attempt to get back to winning ways at UFC 298 when the former middleweight champion squares off against Paulo Costa in Anaheim, California.
UFC CEO Dana White took to social media to announce the duo’s much-anticipated meeting on Sunday, February 18th (AEDT) on a card which will be headlined by fellow Aussie Alexander Volkanovski’s featherweight title fight against Ilia Topuria.
Whittaker hasn’t stepped foot inside the octagon since suffering a crushing second-round loss to Dricus Du Plessis back in June.
MORE: Jack Della Maddalena booked for fight against Brazilian star at UFC 299
Meanwhile, Costa will be coming off an extended layoff after his proposed fight with Khamzat Chimaev fell through in October after the Brazilian sustained an elbow injury.
Fight announcements:
— danawhite (@danawhite) December 22, 2023
Feb 17th, #UFC298
Feb 24th, #UFCMexico
March 30th, #UFCAtlanticCity
April 13th, #UFC300 pic.twitter.com/vcJYI3rekl
Who is Robert Whittaker fighting?
Whittaker will be looking to arrest a recent form slump against Costa which has seen the 33-year-old lose two of his last three fights.
The No.3 middleweight will finally meet his fellow contender after the duo’s original fight at UFC 284 failed to materialise, much to Whittaker’s frustration at the time.
Costa last fought in August 2022, when he beat former champion Luke Rockhold to snap a two-fight losing streak of his own.
Who else is fighting on the UFC 298 fight card?
White revealed that Geoff Neal and Ian Machado Garry would also be added to the fight card, after originally announcing them for UFC 299, following Leon Edwards’ victory over Colby Covington.
The welterweight match-up will be joined by a bantamweight bout between top contenders Merab Dvalishvili and Henry Cejudo.
Meanwhile, Tai Tuivasa will be hoping to get back into the winner’s column when he slogs it out with Marcin Tybura in a heavyweight clash.
This makes it a total of four fighters from Australia and New Zealand who will fight at the event with Justin Tafa featuring in the prelims against Marcos Rogerio De Lima.
MORE: Tai Tuivasa set for heavyweight clash with Marcin Tybura at UFC 298
UFC 298 main fight card
- Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria (Featherweight Title Fight)
- Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa (Middleweight)
- Geoff Neal vs. Ian Machado Garry (Welterweight)
- Merab Dvalishvili vs. Henry Cejudo (Bantamweight)
- Tai Tuivasa vs. Marcin Tybura (Heavyweight)
UFC 298 prelims
- Tatiana Suarez vs. Amanda Lemos (Women’s Strawweight)
- Anthony Hernandez vs. Ikram Aliskerov (Middleweight)
- Marcos Rogerio De Lima vs. Justin Tafa (Heavyweight)
- Zhang Mingyang vs. Brendson Ribeiro (Light Heavyweight)
- Yusaku Kinoshita vs. Danny Barlow (Welterweight)
- Andrea Lee vs. Miranda Maverick (Women’s Flyweight)