For a man who won’t even allow himself salt on his food, and deeply craves a warm croissant lathered with butter, Rob Whittaker could be in less tempting cities than Paris.
“I walk around the streets grabbing waters, every second store is a pastry store and it is killing me,” the Australian said.
But this is his job. Weight must be cut to hit those scales at 84kg (185 pounds) on Saturday, if he is to fight against middleweight rival Marvin Vettori in the UFC’s first event in the city of love and patisseries.
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“The smell of toast is wafting from everywhere and anywhere, I’m starting to think the national smell of France is toast,” Whittaker said.
“It’s rough. I’m a big bread fan, they have great bread here. It’s unreal.
“It has been a little trying, but no less than it usually is, hungry is hungry. Whether you’re hungry in France or hungry in Camden, it’s the same thing.”
As part of his formulaic weight-cut honed over years of experience, Whittaker has now entered the most challenging period, when he removes salt from his diet because sodium helps retain water in the body, and he is trying to shed as much liquid from his frame.
“You’re just trimming down, two weeks out you start to trim the food down and put it up against the numbers on the scale, and keep dropping and keep dropping the food until you get to where I am now, three days out,” Whittaker said.
“It’s pretty scientific, the portion size you’re eating and what type of food you’re eating.
“They’re not great amounts, and they’re very bland at this point.
“It’s only three more days.
“Right now is different to yesterday, right now I’m eating scrambled eggs with a nutty oil on top of it, it’s really high in fats and protein to make me not hungry but also sustain muscle as much as possible.
“It doesn’t sound terrible, but we’re also dropping salts, so it’s not a party in my mouth.
“It’s only the last few days you drop the salt.”
Whittaker, 31, is seeking a third tilt at regaining his UFC middleweight belt, and Italian Vettori stands in his way.
After losing his title to Israel Adesanya in 2019 at UFC 234 in Melbourne, Whittaker returned with victories over Darren Till, Jarod Cannionier and Kelvin Gastelum to force a rematch with Adesanya.
Whittaker lost a unanimous decision to the champion in Houston six months ago, and returns to the Octagon for the first time since that February loss.
The UFC Fight Night will be headlined by Whittaker’s countryman Tai Tuivasa taking on heavyweight rival, Frenchman Cyril Gane. Whittaker versus Vettori is the co-feature.
Whittaker, who has his wife Sofia and their youngest child with him in Paris, wants to be champion again.
To do so, he’ll likely need impressive wins against Vettori and another higher-ranked contender before the UFC and Adesanya would consider a trilogy fight.
He remains hungry, literally and figuratively.
“The post weigh-in is going to be spaghetti bolognese, I’m a big fan of that, love it,” Whittaker said.
“So I’ll have a couple of those after the weigh-in I reckon, fuel myself up, feel good.
“But after the fight, anything and everything is on the menu.”
