Robert Whittaker will not be underestimating Dricus du Plessis by any means.

The former middleweight champion takes on Du Plessis on the UFC 290 card taking place July 8 in Las Vegas. It is essentially a title eliminator with the winner expected to challenge Israel Adesanya in the UFC 293 main event in September.

For many in the combat sports world, it's a foregone conclusion that Whittaker — a massive betting favorite — will win. That's largely in part due to Whittaker being one of the best fighters in the world with his only losses at 185 pounds coming to Adesanya.

However, another reason is because many fans and media alike don't rate Du Plessis' skillset too highly despite the South African being on a five-fight win streak in the UFC.

That win streak involves victories over the likes of Brad Tavares, Darren Till and Derek Brunson and as far as Whittaker is concerned, Du Plessis was not given the credit he deserved from his opponents.

“I guess if fights were won on paper, the entire sport would be very different,” Whittaker said on the UFC Vegas 75 post-fight show (via MMA Fighting). “And I understand that’s not how fights are won, I understand the threat that Dricus can bring to the table and bring to me moving forward, to trying to achieve what I want.

“I do believe that is one of the major reasons why Dricus has had the success he’s had, because he’s going up against these dudes and these guys are not giving him his credit, they’re not giving the respect his skill set deserves. I fully understand that I have bled and sweat and trained my butt off to take the war to him come UFC 290.”

There is one potential issue if Robert Whittaker gets past Du Plessis — he will have a short turnaround for what would be his final chance at defeating Adesanya.

But while he's not looking past his current foe, “The Reaper” is more than fine with facing Adesanya with a shorter camp provided he's healthy.

“I definitely am not looking past Dricus,” he added. “He’s too dangerous and the fight has too much gravity in July, and all my focus and attention and dedication is going into July. But I’ll tell you one thing: If I’m healthy and able, I will take a fight.

“At any date, any time. I’ll take a fight two days after July if I’m healthy and able. So yeah, let’s get through July, and yeah, I’m in the fight game, you know? I’m in the business.”