AUSSIE fighter Robert Whittaker is gaining worldwide attention with his spectacular UFC rise and company president Dana White is among those most impressed.

So much so, White has promised Whittaker a shot on the sport’s biggest stage for his next fight.

New Zealand-born Whittaker recorded his sixth straight win with a spectacular first round TKO win over Derek Brunson in Melbourne last week.

The performance catapulted Whittaker into sixth in the middleweight rankings, putting him in the frame to fight some of the division’s biggest names.

Robert Whittaker during his win over Derek Brunson. Source: News Corp Australia

White has now confirmed Whittaker will next get a shot at a higher-ranked opponent on US soil in a massive boost to the Australian’s push for a historic title shot.

“I’m a really big fan,” White said of Whittaker in an exclusive interview with Fox Sports News 500.

“Actually the next move is, his next fight will be in (Las) Vegas. I’ll bring him out to Vegas and he’ll fight one of the guys in the top five.”

White’s comments follow speculation Whittaker could next take on third-ranked Jacare Souza or No.5 contender Gegard Mousasi.

White says Whittaker will get his next fight “as soon as he’s healthy and ready to get back in and start another training camp”.

UFC 207, headlined by Ronda Rousey and Amanda Nunes on December 31 (AEDT), will likely come to soon but White could be lining up Whittaker for a spot on the card of UFC 209 in Vegas on March 5, or even UFC 208 in Brooklyn a month earlier.

Whittaker, 25, has already fought four times in the US but this would represent by far the biggest moment of his career.

UFC president Dana White. Source: AFP

Meanwhile, White is keen to keep staging UFC cards in Australia on the back of recent successful events.

“Listen, we can’t get out there enough. Australia has always been very, very good to us,” White said.

“The crowds are great and, you know what, it’s crazy because there’s something about Australia — no matter what, every time we go there, the cards are amazing.

“We can’t get there enough as far as I’m concerned. Soon.”

McGREGOR LOSING BELT ‘WAS ALWAYS THE DEAL’

Meanwhile, White remains unapologetic over Conor McGregor having to give up his featherweight belt after making history by also claiming the lightweight title against Eddie Alvarez.

While McGregor has remained combative on the issue, White says the Irishman always knew he wouldn’t be able to hold on to both belts.

“That decision was made before the (Alvarez) fight even happened,” White said.

“I’d been saying all along he was going to give up one of the belts. Everybody knew it, he knew it.

“... It wasn’t like he fought for all these belts and I just pulled this out of thin air. That was always the deal and that’s not fair, you can’t clog up the division.

“These (other) guys have all been waiting for Conor. He fought Diaz, then he fought Diaz against, then he fought for the 155-pound championship. So you can’t keep clogging up the 145-pound division. It’s not right to everybody else.”

UFC superstar Conor McGregor. Source: Getty Images

White insisted losing a belt did not take away from what McGregor had achieved.

“He still did it, you could still consider him a two-way champion,” White said.

“He didn’t lose the belt. Nobody beat him to take it away from him.”

McGregor vacating of the featherweight title leaves Brazilian Jose Aldo as champion. Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis will battle for the right to face Aldo next in a promoted headline bout of UFC 206 on Sunday, following the injury withdrawal of Daniel Cormier from the planned main event.

“These things happen,” White said of the huge blow to Sunday’s event in Toronto.

“Obviously I’ve been doing this a long time and there’s tonnes of injuries and our job is to make sure we put together more fight. It is what it is.”