Robert Whittaker previews Kelvin Gastelum bout, says he's due for a finish

Former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker chats with Kevin Iole about finally facing Kelvin Gastelum after their first fight in 2019 was canceled.

Video transcript

KEVIN IOLE: Hey, everybody. I am Kevin Iole. Welcome to Yahoo Sports. My privilege to have on one of the best fighters in the world, number six on the Yahoo Sports pound-for-pound list, the former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker.

Robert, of course, will fight in the main event on Saturday at Apex against Kelvin Gastelum, a fight we thought we might see a few years ago. We'll finally get it now.

Rob, what's up, my man?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: Not much, mate. Just cruisin'.

KEVIN IOLE: That a baby.

You had a lot more time than Marvin Vettori had, in terms of preparing for a change in opponent, but going from a right-hander to a left-hander. Any problems that that presents for you, going from Paulo Costa to Kelvin Gastelum?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: Obviously, they're very stylistically different. But fortunately, I've had a lot of work with southpaws in the last few years, so it's not too bad. And I had a previous camp preparing for Kelvin as well.

KEVIN IOLE: Do you notice any difference in Kelvin? It seemed like, against [INAUDIBLE], maybe, he used wrestling a lot more than he had since his early days, in my opinion. Wasn't as much of a striker, and he mixed in a lot of takedowns and wrestling very effectively. Did you see anything in there that looked different to you?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: Yeah, certainly. He was very wrestle-heavy. But he was having a lot of success with it, so it was a pretty smart game plan with it.

I'm expecting the best Kelvin Gastelum. And I guess that's what makes him so dangerous is that he can take the fight anywhere.

KEVIN IOLE: One of the things I want to talk to you about-- I have long felt you've been one of the top five, top 10 fighters in the world. And you made the comment that you were too much all-in and that you were too committed to this sport and that maybe stepping back would make you better.

And so I wonder, since you've taken that, maybe, change in your approach, do you think it has had an impact on how good you are in your game, as well as, I guess, your personal life?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: Definitely. I certainly feel that I'm much more balanced with my approach in combat, which is having a direct effect on my home and family life as well. But I guess the biggest change is that I'm just enjoying it a lot more. It's not a struggle to do certain aspects of the game.

KEVIN IOLE: Interesting.

Did you find it before, when you were champion, that there are so many demands on you. And then, you're fighting the best fighters in the world on a regular basis. Did you feel like that was a part of it, too-- all the pressure that came with the responsibility you had?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: It's hard to say. Fighting the best fighters-- I'm still fighting the best fighters in the world, I guess. But there wasn't balance in my life during that period, so where I am now-- I'm in a much better place.

KEVIN IOLE: You went five rounds in each of your last two fights, really impressive wins over Darren Till and Jared Cannonier. So, obviously, you have a gas tank. Do you feel like sometimes less is more? I know you have to be in amazing shape to be an MMA athlete, but you pushed so much. I know you talked about having trained on Christmas Day and everything.

Do you feel like backing off a little bit gives you that extra juice? Your body is rejuvenated, so to speak?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: Maybe a little, but I guess the biggest change it had was on my head. It was just freeing that up. And yeah, it was much better on my mental health.

KEVIN IOLE: Now, you're getting asked a lot of questions about champion, because you were the champion for a long time. Israel Adesanya lost a fight to Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight title.

First of all, what did you make of that fight? Were you surprised by Israel's performance in any way?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: No. I thought Israel fights like he does, but Jan just had a really good plan of attack. He was very patient with his angles, and he secured some late-in-the-fight takedowns. So yeah, he just fought really smart.

KEVIN IOLE: Was there anything in there-- I know you're a different fighter than he is, but anything that you saw that you say, OK, next time I face Adesanya, I'm gonna try to incorporate this into what I do?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: Yeah, perhaps. There's a lot of things I can take from that fight, but you have to wait and see.

KEVIN IOLE: [LAUGHING]

And I want to talk about the Gastelum fight, but I want to go back. One more thing. When you look at your last fight with Adesanya, that was an un-Whittaker-like performance. Losing is one thing. Losing the way you did may be different, a little surprising.

Was that a case of him just being really good and performing at a high level on that particular night, or do you feel like you made some mistakes, in terms of both execution and preparation, that led to the outcome we saw?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: Maybe both. Maybe both. It's hard to say. It's history now.

KEVIN IOLE: Do you look back on all your fights, but do you look back on the fights you lost to think, hey, OK, what do I do here? What do I do there?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: Not really. My coach is there.

KEVIN IOLE: What do you see from Kelvin? You prepared for him before. What kind of challenge is this? He's been in some really crazy stand-up fights.

You've shown, the last two fights, you can put on some entertaining scraps with your hands. I guess you didn't get the nickname Bobby Knuckles for nothing, right? So, do you think we might get a war in there for five rounds on Saturday?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: Maybe, I guess. And that's what makes him so dangerous is the fact that he can take the fight on the grappling, wrestling, striking. He's got knockout power. So I think he's a very dangerous opponent and one of the more dangerous contenders in the division.

So, gonna have to wait and see who shows up on the night and what sort of fight it'll evolve into.

KEVIN IOLE: What was your take when they mentioned to you? Because, obviously, you're ranked number one. He's ranked eighth. I think you might even have been a little bit lower than that when you first accepted the fight.

I know you don't have a lot of choice, 'cause you're a month out from the fight and everything. Did you have to think through it at all? Do I want him, or is there somebody else I can get? Or did you just say yes? Are you the kind of guy that says yes right away?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: I said yes 'cause, timeline-wise, it was perfect for me. I wanted a fight at the time, and I wanted to fight. Camp was almost done, more or less, and everything just fit. After speaking about it with my staff and my family, it made sense to go ahead with the fight.

KEVIN IOLE: I know you fought at different times, because fighting in Australia for North American pay-per-view time makes you fight at a different time. But being local here, fighting in early part of the day-- is that having any impact on you at all?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: No, not really. I would travel all over the world to fight. The times you fight just changes all the time. You have to be ready and used to it.

KEVIN IOLE: Right, OK.

And then, finally, I don't know if a lot of people would agree with me, but I think, even though you, as a former champion-- in my list, I have you as number six, pound for pound. I still think you're underrated. I don't think people tend to appreciate how good you really are.

Fighting on network television in the US with the largest possible audience-- is that something you look forward to? Do you care about that at this point-- building your fan base and building your audience and having the opportunity to maybe fight in front of a bigger crowd than would ordinarily see you?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: Not really. It's not really something that I pay attention to or really think about, to be honest. I'm just doing my own thing. I'm walking my own path and forging ahead.

KEVIN IOLE: All right. Well, good enough.

Let's finish it up here and get a prediction out of you. How do we see this fight going? How do you beat Kelvin Gastelum, and where do you go from there?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: I think it'll be a hard fight, but I'm gonna be too much for him. And I think, maybe late in the second, in the third, I can get him out of there.

KEVIN IOLE: Awesome. Well, it'll be a little while for you since you've had a finish, wouldn't it?

ROBERT WHITTAKER: I know, right? I'm due.

KEVIN IOLE: All right, you're due.

All right. That is the former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. I'm Kevin Iole.

Robert, thank you so much. Good luck. We'll see at Apex on Saturday.

ROBERT WHITTAKER: Pleasure. Thank you so much.

KEVIN IOLE: [INAUDIBLE].