Take a martial art that you enjoy. Don't worry about the end result; just enjoy getting up and going to training. And there is no right martial art to do. They are all good.
— Robert Whittaker
I'm very proud of my heritage and the blood that runs through my veins. I take a lot of strength from that.
I'm a striker. That's what I enjoy doing. And any chance to display that, I'm happy.
I'm always trying to prove myself to the rest of the world.
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.
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.
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 like to think I learn a lot out of every fight.
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.
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.
Court McGee is definitely a name worth fighting - and beating.
Having a little boy gave me a foundation and centred my life a bit more.
My mother's Maori, and my father's Australian. I take my strength from both my ancestors, and I'm really privileged.
I've been dropped on my head multiple times.
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.
Happiness is a key to my success, and my family is a root of that.
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 what crappy food is: high grease, high fat... or what clean eating is. They just make excuses not to do it.
I actually think that wrestling is much harder than MMA, to be honest.
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 always known I've had power.
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.
Come fight night, there will be nerves, but it's how you react to those nerves - doing what you need to regardless - that's how you win fights.
Everyone knows I like to fight injured. Half the fights I've taken, I've always been injured.
It was an absolute honour to fight in Vegas. Every fighter dreams of fighting at the MGM Grand. That's where so many legends have fought before and so many legends will continue to fight.
Pretty much all my mother's side is Kiwi, and we have a strong Maori heritage.
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.
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?
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.
I was born in New Zealand, and I was raised in Australia, and I'm very proud of that.
Put me in with anyone in the top 10, and I win.
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 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.
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.
I know that it's a fight at the end of the day; it's not a grappling match.
Every fight, I try to get out there and set an example to show the rest of the world we have fighters from Australia, and we're for real, and we're here to stay.
I think the mental preparation isn't something that you can work on in one large sum. It has to be a collective collaboration of doing little things for your mental state constantly throughout the prep and managing your life outside the Octagon, managing your life in transit to the Octagon, managing your life once you get to training.
I've got to give props to my dad. He got me into the UFC and the MMA scene to begin with.
I don't think you ever get used to being away from home.
I will be in the UFC one day, and it will take more than one man to stop me.
Everyone thinks Australia and New Zealand MMA fighters don't have that wrestling base, whereas a lot of Americans and other countries have, with them being able to do wrestling at high-school levels.
I need to take fights, and I expect to win all my fights, whether it's higher ranked or lower ranked.
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.
I'm a distance fighter - if you've seen me fight, I like ducking in and out.
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.
I wouldn't be in this sport if I didn't think I could make it to the top.
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 hit hard, and I hit fast - much faster than Bisping, much harder than Bisping, and I have much better defence than Bisping.
When I made the UFC, everyone said, 'You need to go overseas.' I thought I had to go as well, and I went to Tristar Gym, and I was there for one or two years. But changes were needed. I'd come off back-to-back losses - Court McGee and Stephen Thompson - and I needed to look at my roots and go back to the drawing board.
