Robert Whittaker has his next title defense set and it’s an interesting one.

The Las Vegas-based promotion has officially announced that “The Ultimate Fighter” will return for a 28th season with the middleweight champion and contender Kelvin Gastelum serving as opposing coaches.

A date and location for the title bout has not been determined. Some fights believed that Whittaker should fight Yoel Romero for a third time inside of the Octagon under the UFC banner.

However, despite the fact that the UFC middleweight champion has beaten the title contender twice already, there were some who thought this fight shouldn’t happen.

If you recall, Whittaker won the interim title when he beat Romero back at UFC 213 in July of 2017 by unanimous decision.

Then the promotion made him the champion after Georges St-Pierre vacated the strap due to a medical condition in December after beating Michael Bisping at UFC 217 to win it.

As seen in the main event of the main card for the UFC 225 pay-per-view event at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, Romero suffered a devastating split decision loss to Whittaker.

Following their second fight, there were some fight fans that believed Romero won the second fight at the latest UFC PPV event and thus, they called for a third showdown between the pair.

Whittaker joked that if he did take the third fight against Romero then he would need a weapon when they fight.

Obviously, the promotion went in a different direction and now Gastelum is next in line. Once the news was made official, Gastelum spoke with MMA Junkie about this upcoming title fight.

“This is crazy,” Gastelum said during the TUF 27 Finale broadcast. “This is what we’ve been working for a long time, and I’m not going to let it slip by.

This is a huge opportunity for me, my first title shot. My first belt of many. And I think it’s going to be a great season. Me and Robert have a lot to offer this sport.”

“I feel like I was the most deserving, and surely enough (UFC President) Dana (White) always talks about guys that fight, guys that step up and fight should be rewarded,” Gastelum said.”

I felt like I was definitely that guy and blessed. I’m ready to do this. I’m ready to take it.”