On UFC Fight Camp, Megan Anderson interviews Robert Whittaker ahead of his middleweight fight against Paulo Costa at UFC …
fighing out of Sydney Australia here is Robert the reaper Whitaker oh two early knock out for w to the oh he goes down with a knee Whitaker has knocked out Dereon in the first round ladies and gentlemen stars born Robert [Applause] [Music] Whitaker we’re now joined by UFC middleweight fighter Robert Whitaker he’s fighting Polo Coster at UFC 298 but we’re going to get into that a little bit later firstly I want to say congratulations on the new addition to the family how’s Mom and baby doing yeah good they’re both healthy delivery was all pretty good uh you know by all reports because obviously I’m not the one doing it um but yeah everyone’s healthy everyone’s home and yeah it’s it’s great the kids doing well with the with the new sibling oh may they they’re stoked obviously the my daughter Liliana she’s the happiest she wanted a baby sister for a long time but all of them are just they’re just wrapped about her wrapped about her well going back to 2023 before we go into 298 your last fight against trick duplex wasn’t the result that you wanted tough losses to bounce back from what were the emotions for you coming out of that fight fight week yeah um you know I was disappointed I was disappointed the I wasn’t disappointed so much in the loss as I was just because I didn’t turn up I didn’t turn up and I didn’t perform at the ability that I could have and you know that eats away at me so from from that fight we went away we looked at what we liked what we didn’t like and yeah I pretty much just Dove straight back into the training when you come away from losses like that and like you said it eats away at you and you’re thinking about the the things that you could have done differently or you could have done wrong or you just got caught what were those things that you could have done differently that you’ve made adjustments for coming into this next one yeah I guess m probably hinds’s always 2020 so we looked at last camp and there were a lot of things I wasn’t with last Camp there a lot of obstacles during the camp that you know I probably should have handled differently but like I said the hindsights 2020 I wanted a fight I hadn’t fought in a long time time pressures of of wanting to get a fight under my belt before the end of the year it was yeah it just it is what it was like yeah it is what it is so it was important for me to to to to recognize that and just get back into training don’t reinvent the wheel and just put the work in was there anything that surprised you in dri’s game or or the way that he kind of thought that you wer really expecting not not necessarily I’m going to say like and I remember feeling it in there like it’s like mentally like I I I had his number I could feel it but my body just didn’t perform the way I wanted it to it let me down in a in a sense and you know yeah the the result is is what it was sometimes it’s not the mind that lets you down it’s the body that’s for sure well 2024 though it’s going to be your 12th year in the UFC you’ve kind of come through the ranks you started winning The Ultimate Fighter went through welterweight become the middleweight champion out of all of your career to date has there been like a moment or an achievement that you were most proud of uh definitely look career-wise my you know my achievements like winning the show to get into the UFC was massive for me because that was the my first true hurdle in in mixed martial arts and then working my way through the rankings of like welterweight the but middleweight primarily and to a championship title and then you know having the belt and becoming the champion that would definitely have to be the highlight of my career I I’m proud of the accomplishments that I’ve been able to achieve in in my career and just the tenure of been able to stay in the USC and being able to you know perform at the level that I have been the longevity in this sport is very short and it’s it’s a very Testament to you the fact that you’ve been able to compete at the level that you have for going on 12 years now in the UFC but let’s go to UFC 298 fighting Polo Costa this is an interesting fight you know how was the training camp being for this one particularly with a new baby yeah there was I can’t speak about this too much because everyone’s just going to hammer me in the comments but but training around you know the the baby’s birth so going from the hospital to to sparring to the hospital again it was hard it was a hard week I was tired okay I understand Sophia was the one having the baby but I was tired too it was it was tricky but honestly everything went pretty smoothly like she’s home now i’ I’m at home now Camp’s been like I said after last fight I kind of just threw myself back at the training so it wasn’t really a camp to start we ramped up and tweaked training a little bit but more or less I was I’ve been training to be ready so uh yeah I’m pretty pretty happy with the way things are going well Costa big guy a lot of power doesn’t tend to have a bit of a gas tank but stylistically how do you see yourself matching up with him in this one I’d like to think very well uh I’d like to lean on my speed and my accuracy of my shots I’d like to to move him around and to just be too much for him over 15 minutes you know it’s only a three round fight but I do understand the threat he poses with his heavy hands and his heavy kicks he’s a big strong guy so I’m going to have to take this fight with you know a level of gravity but I do believe I’m better than him well I don’t know if you follow him much on social media but he kind of stated that he hasn’t even signed the contract yet do you take much stock into that considering he has had a tendency to kind of pull from fights very close to the actual fight date h no not really because I want to be honest I only understand half the things he says anyway yes no it’s very true and what what are your thoughts on his like secret juice like that that bottle of juice that he kind of carries around oh mate like d a specimen like he’s he’s yeah he’s very big and strong looking the I don’t know there something in his water for sure but like I don’t think it’s secret juice but d d eating a lot of Hema something guys guys massive well you are the only Australian on the card Alex is obviously fighting Ilia Toria you’ve come back from tough losses and with Alex taking that short notice fight against Islam getting finished the way that he was do you feel like he’s coming back too soon for this fight against Ilia H you know for a normal person I would say yes but M vlk probably the best feather way to do it he if anyone’s G to just shake it off and get back to work it’s him well a lot of people are kind of on the edge saying you know vul’s just too good but then there’s a lot of other people that just like iler is going to be the toughest match for vog in a long time do you see the fite being a close spa or do you kind of see Alex showing that there’s levels to this game I I do think Alex is that good but I do also believe that Tor is going to be his hardest test to is Young hungry he’s got every skill set Alex does and I don’t know maybe maybe Alex coming off the last loss gives to pory the edge he needs to just inch it over him it’s it’s hard to say but it’s going to be a hard part we’ll last couple of questions before I let you go 2024 do you have a lot of goals for this year I know that there’s a lot up in the air with the middleweight division do you have a set number of fights that you want to fight this year yeah I would like to fight more consistently it’s uh you know unfortunately I haven’t been able to do that in the last few years so increasing my fight tendency would you know is one of my goals first goal first and foremost being just big Costa that’s that’s really the the first goal there and then second goal straight after that would be just to take him out fight do you see a potential rematch with like Israel in the works like I know he’s kind of taking some time off but there’s history there there’s I don’t know if there’s bad blood but I know that that’s you know coming off of two losses and that last fight was so incredibly close would you want that trilogy fight with him if he’s open to it in 2024 uh there’s there’s definitely no bad bad blood you know there’s a good rivalry there but there’s no bad blood um yeah like honestly I just I’m just focusing on beating Costa I big Costa honestly the world my oyster I kind of can kind of go Any Which Way Direction so my focus on just coming back to form beat and Costa and then I I’ll have a look at things then well Rob good luck against Polo costra at UFC 28 thanks for joining us thank you very much for having me