Video
Original Description
Robert Whittaker joins Karyn Bryant, Din Thomas and Paul Felder to discuss how he changed his mindset ahead of fight vs. Reinier de Ridder. (5:25) Heidi Androl then interviews de Ridder about his ascension to a middleweight main event fight after three bouts inside the Octagon.
#UFC #UFCAbuDhabi #MMA
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Video Transcript
Let's welcome in the former champ, Mr.
Robert Whitaker the Reaper. We're all
big fans here. Great to see you. Um,
it's I love watching that. You know, I
want to pick up on something there. The
storyline of you being a lifelong
martial artist here. I heard a quote say
I went on about it.
Yeah. No, no, but it's it's great. But I
mean that that has defined you. It
it really has like and I don't want to
reiterate what I just went through, but
um yeah, it's it's literally who I'm
built on.
Mhm. Well, one thing that as a martial
artist, like you said, you can see when
you made mistakes and learn from your
mistakes. I heard a quote. You said you
were complacent in your camp against
Chamaya. What did you mean by that? And
how did you fix it?
Uh, I guess like every position like I
went into training and I went into
practice
with like a new vigor of not giving up
any positions, any positions like I feel
like obviously with the the I shouldn't
have been in that position the way I
lost. I shouldn't have been there to
begin with. I shouldn't have let it get
that far. you know, I should have fought
every stage of that opportunity.
Obviously, everything in hindsight,
right? It's the things that keep you up.
But yeah, I just I just went back to
training with that sort of mentality
because habits creep in and I wanted to
correct that. I thought I could have
done better.
Yeah.
So, Robert, you've been doing this for a
really long time. It's fight week. How
is fight week different? Your mental
process, how is it different for your
thought process now as it was maybe say
10 years ago?
I guess everything's kind of just Yeah,
like a sweet science. Everything it just
works the way it's supposed to. I know
what I'm doing and I'm comfortable doing
it and I have 100% 100% expectation that
this is the way it'll happen. And you
know coming up when I first started it's
like how's the weighing going to be?
How's the water loading going to be?
How's the like the food process and how
am I going to bounce back? It was I know
everything to a teen now. Especially cuz
I'm so familiar with fighting in the
area as well. It's like I know I'm a
creature of habit and I'm you know I
feel like I'm home.
And Rob, you know you're a guy that
obviously has a big family. You do this
for your family and you do have another
one on the way as well. Number six on
the way in.
Do you know what it is by chance?
Yeah, another girl. So that's three
boys, three girls.
There you go. So just talk to us about
that too, Rob. You you mentioned it in
the fighter meetings, too, how important
it is that you don't even just fight for
yourself, but you fight for your family
and your children.
Yeah, I don't think I could fight for
myself anymore. You know, I'm I've
accomplished a lot. I've done a lot.
I've been here for a while now. I think
I think my family is my biggest
motivator. you know, the example that I
want to set for my kids, the the food
that I want to put on the table for
them, the, you know, the goals that I
want to kick to show them that they can
be done.
Yeah. And just in terms of the matchup
itself, let's get off of that and get
you more into the uh martial arts
mindset. When you talk about Ryan Der,
right, he's a guy who's been on a nice
little streak here in the UFC so far,
but it's only three fights. You're a guy
who's held that belt, who's fought the
best in this division. Do you think that
this moment is going to be a bit much
for him coming in here against a guy
like you? Even though he's got wins in
the UFC, do you think he's faced
anywhere near the caliber of somebody
like yourself?
I don't think he's faced the caliber.
You know, I like to pride myself on my
ability, but he he's a anybody that's
done their research has seen he's been
around the trot. He's he's fought hard
fights. He's held belts in other
division in other organizations. He's
he's a guy that's no no stranger to hard
fights and fights where the pressure's
on.
Yeah. I want to talk about that pop from
the audience during the way in there
because you cracked this smile. What
does that mean to you for them to show
you that much love and appreciation?
It's uh refreshing after the last one,
right?
No, it's it's cool. You know, you can't
always be everyone's go-to guy, but
yeah. No, it's it's cool. You know, I
feed off that energy and it makes me
feel good.
Yeah, you you're you're quite proficient
over here in the Middle East. I know
somebody asked if you're a Chik's
favorite or something like that, which
wouldn't surprise me if you were, but uh
you know, we do talk about the fact that
there's a lot of middleweights in action
right now. So, we've got DDP fighting
Chamay next month. Where do you think
everything uh sort of falls right after
that? We've got a Mav Bhalio. And if
you're still trying to get to the title,
where do you think you're positioned
after a win over Rineer?
It's so hard. It's so hard to say, but I
know it starts with Rhino, you know? I I
can't see the future. Like the the
division was so locked up earlier this
year trying to get a fight with anyone
and there just wasn't anyone available.
And now it's all moving. So
it was Strickland you wanted. Yeah.
Yeah. Initially, but we didn't know what
he was doing or where he's going or what
he's doing now. Still
question.
But but still it's um yeah, here we are.
I got to fight tomorrow.
And and just along you talked about this
four-step plan, right, that you know,
you already have it in your mind what
exactly you need to do to be able to get
back to that belt. Obviously, it starts
with Saturday night going out there and
doing your thing. But after that,
similar to what Karen's talking about,
the middleweight division is we've got
like a tournament going on right now. Do
you think if you have an impressive win,
do you think that takes away from
needing four more steps or do you think
you need literally four more fights to
be able to get back into the picture?
UFC's the place for fasttracking. You
know, Ryan is a great example of that.
It's um yeah, an impressive win against
him puts me in very goodstead for uh
whatever happens in the next coming
months.
Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, listen. I
hope and I'm sure on Mother's Day, you
are very good to your wife with six
children, I'm sure. But, uh, listen,
it's always a pleasure to watch you
fight. And I know I say this to you
every time, but I was there when you won
tough smashes, and you have not changed.
Your composure, your kindness, your
intensity, and your focus on fighting
has not changed in all those years. And
uh, it's really just been a marvel to
watch. So, thank you for being that way.
Thank you so much for having me.
Well, amazing.
Welcome to Abu Dhabi. You know, what has
this experience been like particularly
with your name at the top of the marquee
for this one?
Yeah, it's been crazy. So, exactly a
year ago, I was here fighting for UE
Warriors. This crazy year happened and
now I'm back. Yeah.
Back and fighting Robert Whitaker, a
former champion who has faced the who's
who in this sport. You know, obviously
he didn't have the best outing the last
time, first time he was submitted since
2011, but I'm sure that's music to your
ears. Um, what did you make of the
Whitaker Chamaya fight?
Uh, well, we didn't get to see
everything, I guess. Uh, I think the the
injury that he had coming into it, I
think that really played a big part
because the joke wasn't that great. So,
um, I I don't take too much out of that.
Um, and in the Eron fight just before
that, he he still looked amazing. So,
uh, I think still the Robert of old and,
uh, see if I can get him.
Well, you know, you're training in
Florida, you're settled in Florida. you
know, what has that been like for you
just to finally kind of have a home and
have everything in place?
Yeah, it's very nice. So, the kids been
to school there for a couple weeks
already and they're starting to learn
some English, which is nice. Um,
everything set up. Training camp was
crazy again. So, yeah,
you've got a great team there. Uh, you
know, who gives you the best look for a
guy like Robert Whitaker who throws such
an immense amount of volume and output?
Well, um we there's like hundreds of
guy. Yeah, hundreds maybe might be a bit
too much, but there's a lot of guys and
um they all have really tried to mimic
his style. Angla, one of my main guys
there has really helped me again. Last
time he was uh he was ang
nickel. This time he's Angla Whitaker.
So um yeah,
I was going to ask you about I mean
obviously Bo Nickel a very different
opponent, right? a division one
wrestler, but Robert Whitaker has some
really good takedown defense. Were there
things that you were able to take and
grow from that camp with Bow Nickel in
preparation for this one?
Yeah. Yeah. Uh I think like they're very
different fighters, but they have some
things in common. Both of them really
like if you give them some space. They
like if they can have a chance to look
around, see what you're doing, and then
step in. Um so I'm going to pressure
him. I'm going to put the pressure on
him. hit him with some good shots
like I did to Bow and then hopefully
show off some my of my jiu-jitsu as
well.
How do you think your size is a problem?
Yeah. So, this is always a big thing for
me. I'm always longer rangier. Um, so on
the outside I should be able to touch
him and he's going to do a lot of work
to be able to get to me most likely. Um,
but he might be a little bit thicker,
little bit wider shoulder. So, um,
we'll we'll see. We'll see how it
happens.
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