Robert Whiteford reckons the odds are stacked against his Irish opponent Paul Redmond ahead of the pair's featherweight clash at UFC Fight Night Glasgow on July 18.
West Lothian fighter Whiteford is supremely confident that Redmond has very little in his arsenal that can cause the Scot problems. The Dubliner has stopped three previous opponents by toe hold submission - but lost his only UFC bout to date, against Mirsad Bektic, by unanimous decision.
Whiteford tells Herald Sport: "What has he got that can hurt me? That stupid toe hold, ankle lock thing, or whatever it is. That's all he's got. He will be getting hit very hard."
Redmond also moved down from his previous weight class of lightweight (155lbs) to featherweight (145lbs) for his UFC debut, and will compete at 145lbs again in Scotland. That, says Whiteford, also plays into his hands.
"You can bet your house he started cutting weight 10 weeks ago," he says. "It's an easier weight cut for me, I'm a natural 145lbs. He will try to push the pace early like he did at 155lbs, but it's not going to work. He knows that."
Whiteford is 1-1 in the UFC, having lost his debut against Jimmy Hettes in 2013 before a superb win over Daniel Pineda in March 2014. After more than a year outside of the cage, he is in peak condition to pick up another win - this time in front of his countrymen at the UFC's first ever event in Scotland.
He says: "I'm excited about the event, but more so for the fans who have wanted it for so long. They've wanted to see Scottish fighters in the UFC and fighting in Scotland. Now it's happening. For a small country, we can fight. We're not here to mess about."
In the run-up top UFC Fight Night Glasgow, the UFC has announced a series of events for fans in the city. On Wednesday, July 15, an open workout will be held at the Old Fruitmarket from 5.30pm. Michael Lisping, Joanne Calderwood, Stevie Ray and Whiteford will take part. And on Friday, July 17, fans are invited to attend the official weigh-ins at the SEE Hydro from 12.15pm. The events are free to attend, with tickets available from eventbrite.co.uk
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article