Robert Whittaker is fighting in Australia again. The former UFC middleweight champion will meet No. 10 light heavyweight Bogdan Guskov in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 298 on Feb. 6 at Afterpay Arena in Sydney, the UFC announced on X. The fight streams on Paramount+.
The promotion’s post came with a padlock emoji and the words “LOCKED IN.” Not my favorite way to break news, but at least the names were attached.
One account, Championship Rounds, posted that Whittaker vs. Guskov would headline the card on Feb. 7. The UFC’s own post says co-main on Feb. 6, and MMA Junkie and MMA Fighting both reported the same. The main event belongs to Sydney’s Quillan Salkilld, who tries to go 7-0 in the UFC against lightweight contender Benoit Saint Denis.
View post on X
The homecoming angle carries real weight here. Whittaker (27-9 MMA, 18-7 UFC) hasn’t fought in Australia since UFC 243 in October 2019, when Israel Adesanya took his middleweight title in Melbourne. That’s more than seven years. According to MMA Junkie, it’s also the only loss he’s taken in six UFC trips to the cage in Australia. He’s 14-2 in the country overall and 7-1 in Sydney specifically.
His last Sydney appearance was in 2014, his sixth UFC fight and his first at 185 pounds. He knocked out Clint Hester in Round 2 and walked out with Fight of the Night. Whittaker was born in New Zealand, but his family moved to the Sydney area when he was an infant, so this is about as home as a home game gets.
The road back here got rough. Whittaker dropped consecutive middleweight fights to Khamzat Chimaev and Reinier de Ridder (the de Ridder loss was a split decision), sat out a year, and then moved up to light heavyweight in July. At UFC 329, he stopped veteran Nikita Krylov in Round 3. He’s 35 now, and MMA Fighting has him at No. 12 in its global light heavyweight rankings.
Guskov (18-4-1 MMA, 4-2-1 UFC) comes in off the worst night of his UFC run. He was booked to rematch Jan Blachowicz after their majority draw at UFC 323 in Las Vegas, but MMA Junkie reported that Blachowicz withdrew in May with a torn meniscus. Guskov instead stepped in for Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC Abu Dhabi in July to face Magomed Ankalaev, and Ankalaev knocked him out in a mostly one-sided fight.
Before that, Guskov was on a tear. He finished four straight opponents, picking up knockout bonuses against Zac Pauga and Ryan Spann in 2024, then beat Billy Elekana and, yes, Nikita Krylov in 2025. So both men have already beaten the same Ukrainian veteran, which gives the oddsmakers something to chew on.
The rest of the card so far: Niushiyue Ji vs. Takaya Suzuki, Marwan Rahiki vs. JooSang Yoo, plus George Mangos and Meng Bo with opponents to be announced.
My take: this is a smart booking with teeth. Guskov is a ranked, heavy-handed guy coming off a knockout loss, which makes him hungry and dangerous for a 35-year-old still figuring out how 205 treats his chin. If Whittaker beats him in front of a Sydney crowd that has waited since 2019, he’s a legit name in the light heavyweight top 10. If he doesn’t, the Ankalaev fight Guskov lost in Abu Dhabi suddenly looks like a learning experience. Feb. 6 at Afterpay Arena.
