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Rematches tend to get framed around what might happen. Inside a gym, the focus is usually on what’s already happened. Fighters remember the first clean exchange, the first time something landed properly, and whether the fear stuck around or disappeared after that. Those moments shape everything that follows, far more than any highlight reel ever could.
That’s why Robert ‘The Reaper’ Whittaker sounds so settled when he talks about Australia’s Alexander Volkanovski heading into his hotly anticipated UFC 325 rematch with Brazilian Diego Lopes on Sunday, 1 February in Sydney.
“I think Volk more or less wrote the blueprint to beating Lopes in the first fight,” Whittaker says in an interview with Man of Many. “I didn’t see enough changes in Lopes’ last fight to suggest he can give Volk a different look”.
“I’m very confident Volk gets it done again.”
From his point of view, the first fight did most of the talking. Volkanovski controlled the space, stayed off the fence, and never let Lopes settle into the exchanges he needed to build danger.
“Every time Lopes tried to cut him off, Volk would crash in, usually over the hands, beat him to the punch, then get back out on his bike,” Whittaker says, noting that Volk didn’t retreat in straight lines. “He was nowhere to be seen, and he didn’t give ground for free.”
Whittaker doesn’t deny the few moments that Lopes had in the Octagon, including one “hairy moment” that highlighted the anything-is-possible mentality of the UFC.
“But he’s been through that now,” he says. “He understands the power of Lopes. There aren’t really any surprises he can come out and throw.”
Asked later what it actually feels like to get punched in the face by someone at that level, Whittaker doesn’t glorify it.
“It’s not fun,” he says. “There’s a lot of adrenaline, so you don’t really notice the ones that don’t hurt. And when they really hurt, you’re already in a world of problems.”
Whittaker reckons experience is often the deciding factor inside the Octagon. Not because it makes fights easier, but because it removes the unknowns. Lopes still needs to load up to generate damage. Volk already knows what that looks like, what it feels like, but most importantly, when and where it’s coming from.
“Seeing Lopes in his last fight, he looked the same as he did in the Volk fight,” Whittaker says. “I just don’t see what he can do differently this time.”
The weight of experience isn’t limited to just this matchup, though. When Whittaker talks about Paddy Pimblett and his recent bout with Justin Gaethje at UFC 324, the framing barely changes.
“Levels. Absolute levels,” he says.
For Whittaker, that fight wasn’t about hype or confidence swings. It was about one fighter being comfortable dragging the fight into uncomfortable territory, and the other running out of answers once it stayed there.
“No one can question Paddy’s heart,” he says, likening the bout to a bar fight. “But he didn’t have answers for the pressure, the power, or the volume.”
Essential ingredients that Volkanovski has in spades as we approach UFC 325.
But Robert Whittaker isn’t just sitting outside the Octagon come Sunday. For UFC 325, he’ll be part of the broadcast team as a desk analyst, breaking down fights, momentum shifts, and key moments as the card unfolds.
“I’ve been fighting my entire life, more or less,” Whittaker says. “I can see things others can’t.”
It’s a role he’s grown into. Whittaker joined the UFC Perth broadcast team in 2025, and he’s already spent plenty of time talking fights away from fight week, including regular breakdowns on the MMArcade Podcast and appearances across UFC broadcast specials.
But once that’s all said and done, The Reaper will be looking down the barrel of his next training camp, a “night and day” difference from your standard gym session.
“Camps are stressful. There’s a lot of dieting, a lot of performance targets you need to hit. It’s a completely different beast.”
The gap between staying fit and preparing to fight is wider than most people realise. Even during time away from camp, Whittaker says his sense of what counts as a workout is completely skewed.
“When I was just going to the gym to stay fit, I’d leave feeling like I hadn’t done any work,” he says. “My idea of what a workout is now is completely different.”
This stretch away hasn’t been about switching off. It’s been about resetting. Spending time with family, clearing the head, and reconnecting with why he keeps coming back.
Helping him out in between sessions has been a brand new partnership with EV brand Zeekr.
For Whittaker, it’s less about performance numbers and more about how things slot into real life. With five kids and a schedule that’s rarely quiet, the appeal is simple. The Zeekr 009 has become part of the routine between sessions, because when you fight for a living, comfort counts for a lot.
“Getting to and from work comfortably puts a positive spin on your whole day,” Whittaker says. “It helps me reset.”
Once his broadcasting duties and overseas seminars wrap up, the plan is to lock back in for a June return.
“I’ve got three fights left on my contract,” he says. “I do those three and ride off into the sunset.”
“I want to set myself up so I can move straight into something I enjoy that isn’t getting punched in the face.”
UFC 325 lands in Sydney on Sunday, 1 February at Qudos Bank Arena. A few tickets to UFC 325 are still available, and the event is streaming live on Main Event and Kayo Sports, with Robert Whittaker joining the broadcast team for coverage throughout the event.
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