Robert Whittaker will fight in Sydney, Australia, for the first time in 12 years when he returns to the UFC.

The former UFC middleweight champion, now fighting at light heavyweight, has revealed he will feature at UFC Sydney on February 7.

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Who is Whittaker fighting at UFC Sydney?

Whittaker takes on knockout artist Bogdan Guskov, and the pair will co-main event the show at Afterpay Arena in Sydney Olympic Park.

The main event of UFC Sydney features a lightweight blockbuster between Australian fan-favourite Quillan Salkilld and France's Benoit Saint Denis.

Announcing the fight on Sunday, Whittaker was relishing his chance to fight in Sydney again.

“So much has happened since. I've ridden the rollercoaster," Whittaker told ABC News, recalling his last Sydney appearance — a second-round knockout of Clint Hester in November 2014.

"My friends and family can all be there. They can be a part of the whole journey without having to spend a billion bucks to be there.

"But I hope things settle down. I'm going to have to stop replying [to people asking for tickets].

"It'll be good to be home after so long. You normally have to travel so far to put on a show."

Whittaker, who was born in New Zealand but moved to Australia as an infant, hasn’t fought at home since dropping the middleweight title to Israel Adesanya seven years ago.

The Melbourne main event drew 57,000 fans, which remains the biggest crowd in the promotion's history.

Whittaker became interim champion by defeating Yoel Romero at UFC 213 and was upgraded to undisputed king after Georges St-Pierre retired.

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The 35-year-old unsuccessfully challenged Adesanya again for the UFC middleweight title in 2022 and moved up to light heavyweight this year after consecutive defeats to Khamzat Chimaev and Reinier de Ridder.

He knocked out Nikita Krylov on his 205lbs debut at UFC 329 in July, when Conor McGregor made his nightmare return to competition.

Whittaker 'more confident' at 205lbs

Speaking on his light heavyweight switch, Whittaker continued: “I'm definitely more confident in my ability to zip and zag and my ability to land power, to be faster, to have the confidence to shoot when I feel it, to have confidence in my instincts again.

"I can eat for fuel, I don't need to starve myself, and that makes living — especially with a family and heaps of kids — much more enjoyable.

"But it's a slippery slope, because after a fight I can get really stuck in. Light heavyweight eating is different to middleweight eating, let me tell you.

"He's [Guskov] a big, rangy guy. He hits hard, he's finished a lot of people, but there's nothing he brings to the table that I haven't seen in my years in the game.

"There's nothing he brings to the table that I think I can't beat."