Rather than dwell on the loss, the former middleweight champion took some time to reflect before returning to the gym with renewed focus. Defeats have been few and far between for Whittaker, who hasn’t lost back-to-back fights in over a decade. He’s made a career out of learning and coming back stronger from defeat, and he’ll look to do it once again when he faces Reinier de Ridder in Saturday’s main event.
Saturday’s Full Fight Card Preview
“Unfortunately, I’ve always been the type to learn the hard way,” Whittaker told UFC.com. “I take a lot from every loss. I’m a very reflective person. After a fight, we go back to the gym, we sit around, talk about what we liked, what we didn’t like. I look at the bigger picture. I look at my physicality, I look at my mental state and see what I could’ve changed and what I could’ve done differently. Then just get back on the horse.
“I was asking for a fight much sooner. It is what it is, the division was tied up. Then his name popped up, I saw the location, I love fighting here, as well, so everything just fell into place.”