Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Robert Whittaker

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

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

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

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.

I used to get so stressed out before the fight, weeks out, because of how much weight I had to cut to get there.

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

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

I think everyone has to have their mettle tested in a tough fight.

I don't try to be someone I'm not.

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

I don't pick and choose. I've never really had an qualms about who I fight next.

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 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.

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.

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 like eating. I like food.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

No fighter wants to risk getting ring rust.

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?

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fighting on home soil is always a dream come true, and I'd love to unify the title here in Australia.

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

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

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.

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

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

With a guy like Yoel Romero, if he senses weakness, he will capitalize on it every time he can.

I see all my hard fights as title fights. Every time I go in there, I'm fighting for my life.

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

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.

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'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.

With the UFC, anything can happen, really.

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.

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

When you get chickenpox as an adult, it's not a laughing matter.

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.

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

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.