The rumors of Robert Whittaker's demise were greatly exaggerated. At least, that's the way things look now after the 29-year-old just handed Jared Cannonier his first loss after three consecutive wins in the co-main event of UFC 254.

Whittaker defeated Cannonier via unanimous decision on Saturday in Abu Dhabi, with all three judges scoring the bout 29-28 for Whittaker.

The Australian Whittaker entered the fight as an irresistible 185-pound force over the last few years, and he carried with him to the Octagon UFC championship credentials. And even though he had just looked spectacular in his five-round win over the always dangerous Darren Till, some in the sport had already penciled in Cannonier as the next challenger for UFC champ Israel Adesanya.

And why not? The 36-year-old American entered UFC 254 having won three straight bouts, all of them by TKO.

More importantly, though, since moving down to the middleweight division, Cannonier had appeared to be the division's newest immovable object, a one-man wrecking crew that suddenly appeared destined for a title shot.

All of which made Whittaker's win even more impressive.

Whittaker and Cannonier appeared evenly matched at the beginning of the fight, and things were tense right from the very start of the contest.

Cannonier's powerful kicks seemed like they might be on their way to telling the same tale they told when the former heavyweight stopped aging middleweight great Anderson Silva last year. But the crafty Whittaker began checking those kicks almost immediately. Even better, he started lobbing smart counters back at Cannonier in return.

By the end of the first five minutes, two things were abundantly clear: First, Cannonier's heavy kicks to Whittaker's legs were legit hurting the ex-champ. Second, Whittaker's fast jabs and flashy movements seemed to be the path for him to win the fight.

Cannonier never made it easy. The hulking middleweight constantly moved from southpaw to orthodox and back again.

That helped him land those hard kicks to the point that Whittaker's lead leg turned red with misery midway through the second round.

Still, Whittaker remained loose and limber in his approach. More impressively, perhaps, his piston-like jab was making mincemeat out of Cannonier's face. In fact, Cannonier's right eye had started to swell from the former champ's sharp jabs landing precisely over and over and over again.

To maker matters worse for the hopeful title challenger, Cannonier couldn't quite adapt to Whittaker's sage defensive moves.

The last rounds showed the merit of both men's efforts.

Whittaker remained active, fluid and aggressive. Cannonier seemed to now be thinking too much and was somewhat unsure about how he should proceed, and all of that led to the brutal combination that hurt him badly and dumped him onto the mat in a heap.

The fight could have been stopped there, but Cannonier's tenacity simultaneously showed his strength as a true contender at 185 pounds while also revealing Whittaker's comeback to be in top form.

Late in the fight, Whittaker ended up in half-guard control on top of Cannonier, but amazingly, the wounded Cannonier got back to his feet about a minute later, his face and right eye now bloodier than ever but his resolve still strong.

Whittaker had to look up at the clock with roughly two minutes left. The look on his face said, "How is this guy still here?"

Cannonier even clipped Whittaker with a hard hook with less than a minute left to fight. It was the brave American's last-ditch effort to secure the victory.

But Whittaker even had an answer for that. The former champ flipped the script via level change, and now he's done the same to those suggesting he would never get back in the title picture again.

"This version of Robert Whittaker looks so much better than the guy who lost to [Israel Adesanya] for the title," UFC color commentator Daniel Cormier said during Whittaker's epic win.

D.C. hit the nail right on the head. This version of Whittaker appeared way better than he looked when he lost the title to Adesanya at UFC 243 in October 2019.

And now, Whittaker deserves his chance to recapture UFC gold.

Kelsey McCarson covers combat sports for Bleacher Report and Heavy.