Robert Whittaker, former UFC middleweight champion and seemingly on track for another shot at gold, has been based in Dubai for the past eight days, but he has seen nothing bar this current location and his hotel room, in Meydan.
“No, mate,” he tells The National following another punishing session at Renzo Gracie Dubai academy in Al Quoz. “I’m here on a mission.”
To be fair, the mission does require laser focus. On Saturday night, at what is expected to be a sold-out Etihad Arena, Whittaker goes up against the unbeaten Khamzat Chimaev in the co-main event at UFC 308, a principal protagonist on one of the cards of 2024.
The bout was supposed to take place earlier this year, in Saudi Arabia in June, but Chimaev was forced to withdraw through illness. The Chechen-born UAE resident may not have competed since last year, but he remains undefeated in 13 professional fights and has been tipped for some time to capture a UFC title.
Whittaker, meanwhile, held the middleweight crown for more than two years from July 2017, and sits now as the division’s No 3-ranked contender following back-to-back wins. As such, his pro records comes in at 26-7.
It’s no stretch to determine, then, that Saturday's rescheduled rendezvous in Abu Dhabi will be worth the wait.
“Mate, I've stepped in the octagon with the best fighters in the world, the best strikers in the world, the best wrestlers in the world,” Whittaker says. “I have a wealth of experience under my belt, and I look forward to putting Chimaev through his paces.
“I look forward to the test. I understand the hard fight that he is going to bring and pose to me, but that's how I get stronger. That's how I get better. The harder the challenge, the greater the triumph.”
Given his recent successes, Whittaker’s confidence is well placed. When Chimaev pulled out of their June encounter, the UFC’s debut in Saudi Arabia, the promotion's first Australian champion carried on regardless, stepping into the octagon against late-replacement, but highly touted prospect, Ikram Aliskerov.
Undeterred, Whittaker recorded a devastating first-round knockout in Riyadh that served notice to the middleweight division. Most probably, it registered with Chimaev, too.
“The advantage is that every time I fight, I go through a camp and then I have the experience of the stress and the pressure of the fight itself,” Whittaker says. “And then, on the other end of that, I've become better.
“So now I'm one fight and one camp better than I was when he was going to fight me, which is just that much more dangerous for him. He's getting a better version of myself.”
Like prior to the June fight, Whittaker has sharpened the edges of his undoubted skillset at the new Renzo Gracie Dubai, a facility founded and run by long-time UAE resident Rafael Haubert. The Brazilian is renowned as one of the country’s foremost jiu-jitsu instructors.
“The last time we came, we spent a lot of time at Renzo Gracie Dubai with Professor Rafael, and it just felt like coming home,” Whittaker said. “As well as we got in touch with Sheikh Rashid [bin Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum] and Sheikh Maktoum [bin Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum], and they welcomed us with open arms. And, honestly, they made it feel like home.
“They helped us with locations on training times and moving around, and just having some other people that can help us in the area. And funny enough, it became like a home away from home; everything’s flowing so well and, apart from the last fight, we had such success in the lead-up and preparation and organisation that it felt like, for our team, our second home. So, when the opportunity came to come back, we jumped at it.”
Evidently, having that backing – that royal seal of approval, if you will – has provided Team Whittaker with the foundation these past couple of weeks to go out and perform on Saturday.
“It just supports the fact of how popular the sport is becoming here,” Whittaker says. “It's so dynamic and such an exciting watch that it’s bringing people from across the globe at any level, at any station.
“And to have the support that we had here with Sheikh Rashid and Sheikh Maktoum, and the Professor Raphael, it was a dream come true. I can't express how humbling it was to for them to welcome us in and to have the support that we have.”
Whittaker, of course, knew the UAE already. He fought twice during the unprecedented Fight Island series hosted by Abu Dhabi during the Covid-19 pandemic, where he defeated fellow top contenders Darren Till and Jared Cannonier.
Although, UFC 308, at a fervent Etihad Arena, might represent a slightly contrasting setting.
“Obviously, Fight Island was its own special circumstance,” Whittaker says. “I really enjoyed it. I thrived in that atmosphere. And I know it's a dividing take, but it was great having no crowds and there was no external media, or was just by laptop in the [hotel] rooms.
“But this is going to be completely different. Honestly, I expect great things. Understandably it was a different circumstance, it was during Covid, but you could see the foundations that's there and how the sport is welcomed here. It is welcomed and accepted with open arms – and I can't wait.”
Facing an unbeaten Chimaev, who debuted for the UFC at the original Fight Island in July 2020, whets the appetite also.
“[He’s] the highest threat,” Whittaker says. “He has the chance to beat me like anybody else does. But I've done everything in my power to beat him and I am confident in my ability and where I'm at right today to beat him and to reduce that chance to almost zero. He has the highest threat to me, but I'm ready.
“I'm going in there to hunt him down from the first second to the last second. Mate, he's going to walk in and he's going to fight the best fighter in the world. That's what I'm bringing to the table. He hasn't been defeated and it's that time he tasted it.”
Serve up that dish, and Whittaker, still only 33, will surely be knocking on the door for another title shot in a middleweight division he believes is “ripe for opportunity”.
Currently, Dricus du Plessis reigns as champion; last year, the South African defeated Whittaker in a title eliminator in Las Vegas. However, with wins this year against Paulo Costa and Aliskerov, rounding off 2024 with a third straight success would surely take Whittaker back into top slot for a championship match-up.
“Mate, I'm going to smash Chimaev and go home,” Whittaker smiles. “That's where it takes me. The first plane back to Sydney.”
As he stresses, he’s in the Emirates on a mission. That’s all that matters.
“My calendar goes to this week, mate,” Whittaker says. "Saturday night. Nothing else.”
