Averaging two to three fights a year gives Australia's UFC star Robert Whittaker a lot of time out of the Octagon; it's time he spends spreading the word about fitness and the benefits of training. Many athletes in other sports see the emphasis on being a role model as too onerous, but Whittaker sees it as the most important thing in his career.
"It's huge -- being a role model for the sport and being a role model for athletes in general is one of the biggest things for me as an athlete," Whittaker tells ESPN.
"It is very important for me to make sure that I am clean, and how I conduct myself is very important. I'm not taking shortcuts, I'm doing things the right way, so that I can encourage those athletes building up or getting into the sport to do the right thing and to take the proper road."
Whittaker continues to take his personal "proper road," with Las Vegas the next stop. He faces Brazil's Yoel Romero in an interim middleweight title fight at UFC 213 on Saturday, with both fighters riding a wave of success: Romero has won his past eight fights, and Whittaker his past seven. It's a career-defining bout for both men, and Whittaker is well aware of the danger he faces against the former Olympic freestyle wrestler.
"His strength is definitely his implementation of his wrestling, and through that his striking can shine and everything else can shine," Whittaker says. "He is a smart, wise and experienced fighter. He is an experienced competitor; he has been competing his whole life at the highest level. I'm going in there with that knowledge, and I intend to exploit my own strengths and push the pace and push my own game plan on him.
"My strength is definitely my stand-up ability; my stand-up ability helps me control the fight. I definitely want to get in there and hopefully use that on him and push the fight to my angle and my edge and my advantage through my striking."
The pair's contrasting styles may illustrate the casual observer's impression that the Octagon is a place of madness, a brutal flurry of fists and feet, knees and elbows. It looks like a frantic battle for survival, with the occasional pause to reset before launching the next attack, but there is a lot more going on strategically.
"You definitely need to keep to your game plan," Whittaker says. "At this level ... it's super important to keep your head and keep your wits about you because, if you're not, your opponent is. It's a funny feeling in there, because you need to stick to the game plan, but you don't have time to think about it. That's where muscle memory and the weeks and months of preparation for a fight come into it, because you don't have time to think. You just need to react and you just need to be doing what you need to be doing."
Whittaker knows he could be in for a long and difficult night, as Romero has claimed seven of his eight successive wins in the final round or by decision.
"All my fans know that I'm always looking for a finish," Whittaker says. "I'm always going in there and I'm always trying to finish my opponent from the moment we touch gloves. But I have to be prepared, and I'm looking forward to that 25-minute war if need be -- I'm not shy of that. The fight could go anywhere, it could happen anytime. I think that's half the appeal and the reason so many people get behind the sport; it's because it's exciting and no one really knows how it's going to play out."
The winner has injured middleweight champion Michael Bisping waiting for him, but Whittaker's focus is completely on Romero.
"I can't even think about Bisping right now because I have a hard fight ahead of me with Yoel Romero. Bisping doesn't even factor in my thought process right now."
The old adage of taking it one fight at a time is true. It's the "proper road," and that's why Whittaker also has no long-term plans in a sport in which such ambition is only a knee to the jaw from being taken away.
"I'm just really enjoying fighting," Whittaker says. "I'm loving the journey right now and I'm loving the results and the success I've been having. That's because I have been focusing wholeheartedly on what I do, my craft, on my sport. The main thing is that I am happy."