Top 70 Robert Whittaker Quotes

Happiness is a key to my success, and my family is a root of that.

The UFC does what it wants. That’s just how it is.

I don’t think of myself as the champion too often, honestly.

It’s definitely a reason I game so much: to forget about the pressures of fighting and the hardships of training and everything.

I’m hugely into video games; I always have been. I started on the Sega with games like Sonic, Battletoads, and Tetris… all those old-school games.

Fighting is fighting. Family life is family life. I need a distinct barrier between the two. Obviously, my family dictate how I’m feeling and my head space. But work’s work.

Obviously, that’s the thing any athlete wants to be able to do, to take weaknesses and turn them into strengths.

It is amazing to have the UFC to come here to Perth… it is great for Australian Mixed Martial Arts and great for the sport, and it is going to be great for Perth to have such a world-wide event, through pay-per-view, hosted here.

Michael Bisping versus Georges St-Pierre is a money fight, and the UFC loves money fights.

I’m very objective driven, so for me it’s very important to know who I’m fighting, when I’m fighting, and roughly the direction I’m working in. It gives me that little extra push to do what I need to do to get the sessions, to work towards something.

I like to think I learn a lot out of every fight.

I’ve been dropped on my head multiple times.

That’s the game plan – I’ve got it written down on paper: beat everyone. And that’s what I’m looking forward to doing.

No fighter wants to risk getting ring rust.

I’m definitely driven to go as far as I can.

I think it’s highly unprofessional to not make weight.

If Mayweather wants to come over and fight in the UFC, then do it. It’s hardcore here, though. I don’t think it’ll be a stroll in the park. Granted, he’s the best boxer ever seen, just about.

My standard training week, there’s a lot of training in there. I have a high-performance coach who manages these spreadsheets of mine, manages my sessions and my loads. It’s a very complicated process, and he puts me through about 22 sessions a week.

Put me in with anyone in the top 10, and I win.

I watch a couple of fights to get a visual image in my head. I don’t like doing a lot of research on my opponents; I leave that to my coaches.

I’ve got to give props to my dad. He got me into the UFC and the MMA scene to begin with.

Pretty much all my mother’s side is Kiwi, and we have a strong Maori heritage.

Everyone needs an objective, and everyone needs a goal, and it was frustrating just kind of being at a standstill.

I want to fight all the best. I want to be the best fighter in the world. The only way to truly attain that title is by beating everyone.

It’s definitely been a progression, but I always knew I could be a great fighter. I could feel it inside of myself.

Moving to middleweight had a massive impact on my training regime and my mental space leading into everyday training. I was training for the fight, not just trying to burn calories and get my weight down. It was a big mental relief there.

Do I want everyone in Australia to know who I am? Absolutely. But the only way I can do that is by winning fights.

I’m a very objective-driven bloke, so to have a goal in mind and to have something to do is very important to me.

It’s an absolute honour and privilege to get out there and be an Australian headlining an Australian card. That’s unreal; it really is.

I have faith in my wrestling, faith in my grappling, and faith in my striking.

I just don’t want to be a champion; I want to be one of the best fighters there ever was.

The UFC are my employers, so they have to come first.

I’m very picky with what I read. It’s a specific genre of science fiction.

Although I didn’t spend much time in New Zealand at all, I feel really privileged to have that Maori blood and link to my past. I got my tattoo out of respect to that.

I never expected to do what I can, but with my coaching staff and my training and coming to terms with my own ability and my own talent and realizing the potential that there is, I’ve decided that I want to make a run for it. I’m training, and I’m fighting for a title.

I’m always trying to prove myself to the rest of the world.

I started training with Fabricio Itte with my wrestling and high performance; I started spending a lot more time with my head coach Henry Perez and also my grappling coach Alex Prates. Those three are my core team, and they’ve made hugely important changes and skill enhancements with my game.

I’m happy to fight anyone. There’s no particular person I want to fight next.

Court McGee is definitely a name worth fighting – and beating.

Family are my greatest source of strength. Emotion – they help me deal with that. One look at them, and I know everything is OK.

I actually think that wrestling is much harder than MMA, to be honest.

I train hard; I have the best coaching staff in the world… We always do the right things. I stick to the plan, and we get things done.

Obviously wrestling is a core component of MMA. And among UFC fighters, my take-down defence is considered quite high.

I’ve never cared who I fight. And that’s something I just say – ‘I’ll fight anyone’ – it’s something I’ve lived up to my whole career. And I’m proud of that.

My philosophy is fight anyone, anywhere. If you’re going to be the best then you’re going to have to beat them all, so why pick and choose?

When you ask a guy, ‘Are you gonna take a fight if your opponent doesn’t make weight?’ Is it really asking? Does he really have a choice? When you back them into a corner like that, is there really a choice to be made?

Sometimes, it doesn’t matter if you’re the world champ or not.

I’m very proud of my heritage and the blood that runs through my veins. I take a lot of strength from that.

I don’t think you ever get used to being away from home.

The journey has moulded me into the person I am today. The journey of my mixed martial arts experience has been filled with ups and downs, but through that, I have come out a much better man.

It’s coffee – if I have just the right amount, I come across as charismatic. One too many, and it’s like I’m having a seizure.

Who am I to tell people what to do with their own careers and how they’re doing?

Basically, I try to get across my striking, wrestling and grappling, and jujitsu. Every day, across the board, I try to get an equal amount of sessions throughout the week because I need to improve in all aspects of my fighting.

I would love to have a crack at Michael Bisping – with or without the gold, I’d want to have a crack at him because I respect him as a fighter, and he’s a tough dude, and I’d love to swing it out with him.

With the UFC, anything can happen, really.

I know that it’s a fight at the end of the day; it’s not a grappling match.

If you don’t make weight, you’re breaching a contract, straight up.

As a fan of this sport, I am gutted to see ‘Jacare’ lose. To be matched up against him and to have the honor of fighting him, it blew my mind.

It’s a very funny topic, missing weight and getting title shots. I think the punishments should be more severe, but I don’t know.

I hit hard, and I hit fast – much faster than Bisping, much harder than Bisping, and I have much better defence than Bisping.

I vigorously train in my jui jitsu and my wrestling, but my stand-up game gives me a huge advantage in defending take-downs.

Everyone knows I like to fight injured. Half the fights I’ve taken, I’ve always been injured.

Getting back to 100 per cent is one thing, but working at 100 per cent is something else entirely. And given one of my main goals has always been improving my skill set, to do that, I need to be working out at 100 per cent.

All my skill sets have grown; my experience in the Octagon has grown. I honestly just think I’m getting better with every fight.

I don’t have any ill will towards any of my opponents. I understand we are the highest calibre of athlete in this sport, and we will both go and give it our all. But I don’t want anyone to misinterpret what I am saying: when we step into that octagon and we touch gloves, I am going to break his face.

The reason I fight is to provide for my family, and I cannot risk having that taken away.

Michael Bisping’s whole life is a film scene. He’s always acting. Confronting me at UFC 213, it makes me laugh. It’s a bit clownish.

I have great striking, really great striking, and I hit very hard.

My mother’s Maori, and my father’s Australian. I take my strength from both my ancestors, and I’m really privileged.

Everyone knows what crappy food is: high grease, high fat… or what clean eating is. They just make excuses not to do it.