No. 3 ranked middleweight contender Marvin Vettori has the opportunity to pick up the biggest win of his career when he takes on former champion Robert Whittaker in Saturday’s UFC Paris co-main event.
Vettori acknowledges that Whittaker is one of the top 185-pound fighters in the world, but doesn’t think “The Reaper” has improved his skillset in recent years.
“He’s definitely an experienced opponent, but I feel very, very confident,” Vettori said during the UFC Paris Media Day. “I’m not underestimating him. I have a few aces up the sleeves that he’s not going to have. He’s definitely very good, but with that being said, he’s the same fighter that he was like a year ago. He’s the same fighter that he was in his last fight. I’m not. I keep improving. I’m more hungry. I’m on my way up. I don’t believe he is. That’s the biggest difference there.”
Not only does Vettori believe that Whittaker isn’t improving and lacks hunger, he also believes that he’s a bad matchup for the former champion.
“I think I matchup very bad for him. My skills matchup very well for myself against him. The way that I fight will drain him, or make him do mistakes and I’ll capitalize on it,” Vettori said.
“He can’t grapple with me. He can’t grapple and be successful with me. He just can’t. He’ll try, and I welcome it if he does, but he really can’t. I can. I can do anything in that fight, and I will because it’s MMA at the end of the day.”
Robert Whittaker says, ‘I’m going to be too much’ for Marvin Vettori
Marvin Vettori: ‘I think I matchup very bad for Robert Whittaker’
