Robert Whittaker has amassed 26 phenomenal victories in his professional MMA career, with 17 of them coming in the UFC! However, ‘The Reaper’s climb to the top of the promotion wasn’t just built on skill; it was built on trust, sweat, and the people in his corner. As the former champion gears up for his next battle against Reinier de Ridder at UFC on ABC 9, fans are once again wondering: Who’s behind ‘The Reaper’ when the cage door closes?
So, let’s take a look and learn more about Whittaker’s gym, his coach, and all we know about how ‘The Reaper’ prepares for his fights! After all, it’s the teammates and coaches that build a fighter, don’t you think?
Robert Whittaker’s coach Alex Prates
Let’s start with the man guiding Whittaker behind the scenes, Alex Prates. The Brazilian coach has been a fixture in ‘The Reaper’s career for years. Their bond? It runs deep.
In a past interview, the former champion confessed, “I’ve learned that having people you trust and who have your best interests in mind is one of the most powerful tools you can have.”
Reports indicate that Whittaker first met Prates sometime around The Ultimate Fighter days in 2012. The coach became a full-time member of his corner by 2015. Since then, the two have walked through wins, losses, and even title gold together.
But who exactly is Alex Prates? He’s not just a coach; he’s a high-performance grappling and MMA specialist with a 4th-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. His roots trace back to legends like Royler Gracie and Mario Sperry.
Some of his key roles include being a head coach for Robert Whittaker and UFC’s Jacob Malkoun, coach for ONE FC’s Isi Fitikefu, and the current wrestling coach for NRL Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.
In a post shared on his Instagram account in 2020, ‘The Reaper’ revealed that he had been training in Gi Jiu-Jitsu for 16 years at that point. The caption for the update stated, “Honoured to be handed my black belt from my coach and friend @alexprates07. Started Gi 16 years ago and I’m stoked to have hit this milestone in my career. Lookout world. If you’re in so much as a long sleeve shirt. Danger.”
Clearly, their relationship goes beyond fighter and coach. It’s loyalty forged through combat. Now that we know who’s guiding him, let’s look at where it all happens!
Robert Whittaker’s gym and teammates
Born in Otahuhu, Auckland in New Zealand, Robert Whittaker’s family moved to Australia shortly after his birth. It was here that his journey in martial arts began when his father enrolled him and his brother in a karate school when he was just 7 years old.
After 8 years of training and earning his black belt in Goju-ryu karate, Whittaker then enrolled in a hapkido gym, which was later transformed into an MMA gym by the coach, Henry Perez. This led to ‘The Reaper’ falling in love with MMA, and in 2008, he made his debut in the sport when he signed with ‘Xtreme Fighting Championships’ in Australia.
According to the information available on Tapology, Whittaker currently trains out of the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Smeaton Grange gym in New South Wales, Australia.
His grappling coach at the gym is Alex Prates, and according to an update from Whittaker’s Instagram, Brian Doyle handles the boxing coach duties for ‘The Reaper’.
In the past, Whittaker has also trained with the ‘Tristar Gym’ in Canada from 2013-14 under coach Firas Zahabi, most notably for producing fighters like Georges St. Pierre, Rory MacDonald, Arnold Allen, and more.
His teammates in the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Smeaton Grange gym include fellow UFC middleweight Jacob Malkoun, who is also an ADCC Asia Trials Winner from 2019, ‘Dynamite’ David Francis, and Isi ‘Doxz’ Fitikefu.
Out of the three aforementioned teammates, only Jacob Malkoun competes in the UFC. But did you know Robert Whittaker once agreed to train with his past opponent, Khamzat Chimaev? In 2022, ‘Borz’ expressed wanting to train with ‘The Reaper’ and “beat bad guys,” which was responded to with open arms from the latter.
“Yeah, I heard what Khamzat [Chimaev] said about wanting to fight bad guys. I can get behind that. If he wants to train together, I want to train together, and we can go hunt bad guys together, you know. I think it’ll be a lot of fun. And I think we can run amok on a lot of people,” Robert Whittaker stated during an interview on MMA on SiriusXM. That training session never happened, but it showed how open-minded and respectful Whittaker is, even toward future opponents.
As Whittaker sets his sights on Reinier de Ridder, he’s not doing it alone. With Alex Prates by his side and a powerhouse gym behind him, ‘The Reaper’ has all the tools he needs to rise again!
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