Fighting on home soil is always a dream come true, and I'd love to unify the title here in Australia.
— Robert Whittaker
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.
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 don't try to be someone I'm not.
I see all my hard fights as title fights. Every time I go in there, I'm fighting for my life.
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 UFC does what it wants. That's just how it is.
Obviously wrestling is a core component of MMA. And among UFC fighters, my take-down defence is considered quite high.
No fighter wants to risk getting ring rust.
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.
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.
I have faith in my wrestling, faith in my grappling, and faith in my striking.
I used to get so stressed out before the fight, weeks out, because of how much weight I had to cut to get there.
It's definitely a reason I game so much: to forget about the pressures of fighting and the hardships of training and everything.
If you don't make weight, you're breaching a contract, straight up.
I think everyone has to have their mettle tested in a tough fight.
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?
Every time I step out there in the Octagon, I aim to do Australia proud. And this isn't for popularity or a fan base; it has never been for that. It's just because I love my country, and I want to show the world what we're doing down here.
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.
Fighter, father, husband - it's all the same person. I know the UFC stereotype is that we're all thugs. But I'd like people to know that I don't have to switch one off to try to be another. Being a father and a fighter, it's who I am.
I'm very picky with what I read. It's a specific genre of science fiction.
Everyone needs an objective, and everyone needs a goal, and it was frustrating just kind of being at a standstill.
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 don't pick and choose. I've never really had an qualms about who I fight next.
Sometimes, it doesn't matter if you're the world champ or not.
The reason I fight is to provide for my family, and I cannot risk having that taken away.
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.
With the UFC, anything can happen, really.
I have great striking, really great striking, and I hit very hard.
Who am I to tell people what to do with their own careers and how they're doing?
You know those hard days you go home where you've been worked to the bone and you just want to do nothing? In fight prep, every day is that day.
When you get chickenpox as an adult, it's not a laughing matter.
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.
I think it's highly unprofessional to not make weight.
Before The Ultimate Fighter, I was appearing before a couple of hundred people at most. Now, I'm on the card of a Las Vegas blockbuster... this is every Australian fighter's dream.
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.
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.
I want to be known as one of the best fighters ever. I don't just need a shiny medallion to tell me anything. I want to beat all the top-caliber dudes.
People smarter than me told me that my potential was bigger than just winning a belt. Now I believe that, and that's what I'm striving for.
Michael Bisping versus Georges St-Pierre is a money fight, and the UFC loves money fights.
I'm definitely driven to go as far as I can.
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.
The UFC are my employers, so they have to come first.
With a guy like Yoel Romero, if he senses weakness, he will capitalize on it every time he can.
I just don't want to be a champion; I want to be one of the best fighters there ever was.
It's definitely been a progression, but I always knew I could be a great fighter. I could feel it inside of myself.
I like eating. I like food.
Obviously, that's the thing any athlete wants to be able to do, to take weaknesses and turn them into strengths.
I don't think of myself as the champion too often, honestly.
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.
