Maybe it was 50-year old Anderson Silva crushing Tyron Woodley in a battle of former UFC champs in the boxing ring over the weekend, but now it’s Robert Whittaker considering crossing over.
In fact it very much was. Whittaker, affectionately known as “Bobby Knuckles” and actually nicknamed “The Reaper,” suggested a jump to the “Sweet Science” on his MMArcade Podcast recently. The comments came in response to the Silva vs. Woodley fight, with Whittaker’s co-host noting that Woodley had a “rough go” in the match, which took place at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida on the Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua undercard.
“Knocked him out in the second. That’s wild,” stated Whittaker, apparently in awe of Silva’s latest feat, and suggesting he could join Silva and Woodley in the boxing realm.
“I might be on the next card with him! It depends how much he’s getting paid. That was a big card, Netflix card. I’m sure the paycheck was considerable,” exclaimed Whittaker. “I think everyone likes to throw hands for a decent paycheck.”
“Yeah, it interests me for sure, certainly,” Whittaker stated later, asked if he would move to boxing after his UFC career wraps. “Yeah. It definitely interests me, especially like, not actually having to go through the boxing circuit the way a lot of guys did. If I can move straight up to these like, what are you going to call them? What sort of fights are these UFC guys that are coming into boxing doing? Those sort of fights. You know what I’m talking about.”
“I think there’s some money to be made there. I think it keep me fit. I think it’s definitely an aspect of the sport that I enjoy. I’ve always loved striking. So to move into that field would be cool. It would be a nice, fresh change.”
Whittaker is coming off back-to-back losses against Khamzat Chimaev (who went on to win the UFC’s 185lb title) and Reinier de Ridder. The de Ridder fight was Whittaker’s lone contest of 2025. He does not currently have a fight scheduled.
Numerous mixed martial artists have made the transition to boxing in recent years, to varying degrees of success. Those include Nate Diaz, Ben Askren, Vitor Belfort, Jose Aldo, Cris Cyborg, Silva, Woodley, and of course Conor McGregor.
