UFC middleweight Robert Whittaker wouldn’t mind playing the villain role against Marvin Vettori at UFC Paris.

On September 3, the UFC will head to France for the first time with a blockbuster card that looks set to feature a whole host of exciting talent. One of the fighters who will be competing on the main card is none other than former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, with his opponent being Italian sensation Marvin Vettori.

In a recent chat with GiveMeSport.com, the former king cast doubt on the idea of Vettori being the fan favourite on the night - and also made it clear that he’d be fine with being the bad guy either way.

“I don’t think he’s the poster boy of Europe [laughs].

“I’m sure of it [having his own fans there]. I’ve got a lot of English fans that I know of, and yeah, I don’t know why people would dislike me for no reason, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I’m cool. I don’t play into the crowd very much. If I do get the underdog role and I do get that villain role, I’m pumped. That’d be cool. I love upsetting people!”

A clear warning

Robert Whittaker is the definition of a class act and while he may be an absolute killer inside the cage, he isn’t too bothered about talking trash to his rivals in the name of selling a few more pay-per-views.

When asked about Vettori potentially trying to play mind games, Whittaker explained how that could work against him.

“He likes being a bit mouthy, sells fights, likes building up a little bit of hype for the fight. I think mentally he likes to do that to try and build a bit of dislike for his opponents. I’ve fought plenty of mouthy fighters before, I’m quite accustomed to it at this point. I’m not too worried about it, it might even be fun.”

“I feel like people just set themselves up for failure when they say stupid stuff. It’s fun, I find it fun when they get mad because it’s a game, it’s a thinking game. You can see where it starts to fall apart. People fall apart, they start stumbling over their own feet.”

UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: GANE vs. TUIVASA tickets go on sale from 09:00 a.m. BST on Friday, June 24, via Accor Arena and Ticketmaster.