Chatting to Robert Whiteford ahead of UFC Dublin, it felt more like a chat down the pub than a media scrum.
“If he wants to come in there and fucking hug my leg for fifteen minutes then I’m not going to be fucking happy,” the Scottish featherweight said of opponent Darren Elkins, who is an accomplished collegiate wrestler.
“Believe me… If he’s stuck on my leg for fifteen minutes, I’ll be having words in his ear and saying ‘get the fuck off’ because we’re here to fight, not wrestle.
“So hopefully he knows that as well and he’s not just going to come with a wrestling gameplan. He’s number 13 in the world and he doesn’t just wrestle, he comes to fight. But when I hit people, it changes their mindset so hopefully I can nullify the wrestling and keep it on the feet to knock this guy out.”
In a card ravaged by injuries, Whiteford v Elkins is one of the stand-out bouts featuring non-Irish fighters.
The Hammer knows all about Irish opposition though, having knocked out Team Ryano fighter Paul Redmond in Glasgow in July, but Whiteford laughed when asked if he would have liked to be fighting an Irishman at Saturday’s UFC Dublin.
“Would I fuck!” Whiteford said. “Imagine going in there, fighting one of their home guys. It was like him [Redmond] when he came out to Scotland fighting a Scottish guy.
“The amount of boos he got. There were thousands of them. Fuck that shit!
“I want the crowd behind me so I’m glad I’m not fighting an Irish guy.”
